


Science And Magic Miracles

by YunaYamiMouto



Series: Worlds Collide [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Exactly What It Says on the Tin, F/M, Family, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Humor, Post-Break Up, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Shenanigans, Smut, Team Iron Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:34:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24038185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YunaYamiMouto/pseuds/YunaYamiMouto
Summary: Oneshots about Stephen and Toni's relationship that led to their happy ending in (Not so) Little Miracles, featuring all their friends and family!
Relationships: Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Worlds Collide [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709506
Comments: 117
Kudos: 353
Collections: EGFixIts, ellie marvel fics - read





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to (Not So) Little Miracles

It should have been easy. It was just a social event. Nothing hard or scary about it. Just ... annoyingly dull people conversing with each other, showing off, badgering for more funds, subtly digging jibes at each other while pretending to be nice with fake smiles plastered on their faces. They were all dressed up in their best suits and their prettiest - or most revealing and seductive - dresses, trying to make an impression or prove a point.

Or pick up a desperate date or two, as it would seem. Future Doctor Stephen Strange, young neurosurgeon in training but already _way_ overqualified in his field and bound to become one of the best doctors in the world, grimaced as he himself was subjected to the truth of that last point. Yes, he knew he was handsome - and very arrogant, but he wasn't about to delude himself by saying he wasn't - and and surprisingly successful for his age, but did these girls really have to assume he was so shallow as to be interested in them just because they flashed their breasts at him? Did they think they could impress him like that? He was a doctor in training. Whether he wanted to or not, he had seen plenty of the human body, male and female alike, and he wasn't impressed. Not that he wasn't known for being somewhat of a playboy in the sense that he preferred occasional one night stands as opposed to a serious, long term relationship. Although that usually had to do more with not finding a subtle partner than him not wanting a relationship. He only hooked up when he needed to relieve some tension and only for as long as it was needed. He much preferred to concentrate on his budding career that something as useless as a relationship with a girl who only wanted to profit from his growing fame.

And that's not even mentioning the older women who were interested in him and would fund his research in exchange for ... his _services_. He shuddered just thinking about it, wanting to hurl but refraining from doing so. He was much too prideful to make such a fool of himself in front of all of these people but it was hard. It was _especially_ hard since he could feel their eyes on his back. He felt like a foal being eyed by several predators and he didn't know which way to escape, if he even had any at this point. It was disturbing how the law of the jungle very much ruled in these circles. He regretted not finding some ditsy date to hang off his arm and be the repellent against all of this unwanted attention. Was this how women felt when men were eying them up?

And _speaking_ of _women being eyed up_ , Stephen wasn't the only one getting some much unwanted attention.

Across the room stood possibly the most beautiful female specimen Stephen had ever laid his eyes on and she was easily the most eye catching person in the room. It didn't even have anything to do with her gold, tight fitting cocktail dress with the long slit up her right leg, showing off the smooth skin for everyone to see, or the topaz jewelry that accompanied it. She was just so breathtaking that every man's eyes in the room would stray to her and stay there for longer than was appropriate. Her presence alone was captivating and demanded attention simply by standing in place as she was now, drinking a martini.

She was Toni Stark and she was commanding the room without needing to say a word.

Now, Stephen didn't want to be like every other guy, drooling over the gorgeous rich girl, but he couldn't help himself. He knew about her, of course. Everyone did. The youngest MIT graduate and a genius who already had three doctorates. She was the talk of the science and educational community, especially since it was rumored the ordinary IQ test can't measure her results. She was around Stephen's age and was said to have a sharp wit and even sharper tongue that Stephen often wondered whether it would stand up to his own. Rumors were one thing, reality was another. It made him want to go over there and see for himself, to test himself against this young woman that the world was practically swooning over, but the amount of men vying for her attention held him back. Some of them were older and successful, scientists in various fields Stephen probably hadn't even heard of, others were as young as him or younger, green, only starting their careers. There were plenty of patrons around, all rich enough to by islands if they wanted, also trying to get a word in with Stark, obviously forgetting her father was probably even richer than them. Now, Stephen hated war profiting, but Howard Stark sure did run a good business. He was also somewhere in the room, getting funds for some long term projects, scouting out talent, making new partners, avoiding Dr Hank Pym who seemed to be glaring at the weapons maker with something a lot like hatred and talking with his business partner, Stane, if Stephen had heard correctly. He'd seen both men with Ms Stark earlier but must have left her to her own devices and to be annoyed by the men there.

If Stephen had to guess, though, he'd say the most annoying ones had to be the men who could be her father or grandfather, twice or thrice her age. They try to cope a feel and she'd have to slap their hand away. Stephen wagered she didn't punch their lights out only because it would create a scandal and might reflect badly for her father's business. They'd press up against her back and whisper in her ear, probably drunk enough to kill a horse, and she appeared to be refraining from throwing her drink in their faces. Whatever form of sweet talk they were attempting was deeply insulting for the genius because her practiced, media smile would twitch the slightest bit before it was put back in place. And when they'd lean in to kiss her, she would have to fluidly side step them, obviously on order to refrain from kneeing them in the groin. Stephen saw her lips moving but had no hope of lip reading or hearing what she was saying, although the indignant expressions most of her ... wanna be 'suitors' wore as they marched off said it all. They had obviously met the sharp, vicious side of her tongue.

Stephen couldn't help but grin, impressed. He had just seen the twentieth guy storm away with a pissed off or embarrassed expression and another one was already going to take his place to be verbally torn apart. You would think these people would learn by now, but nope. They still kept coming. Strange would have shook his head at them but he frowned when he realized this guy, even after Stark snapped at him, wasn't leaving her alone. In fact, he was getting even more handsy and it looked like Stark was actually pushing him away even as he backed her up into the refreshments table. The nearby waiter looked like he wanted to intervene but didn't know how while the old businessman leaned in, as if trying to kiss her. Stephen figured if no one else was going to help her - and indeed, no one seemed to care that a young woman was all but being molested in front of them - he could do it. Taking a deep breath, Stephen quickly crossed the room and cleared his throat, gaining himself the attention of both the harasser and the victim. He nearly froze when those amber eyes landed on him, his breath hitching. Those eyes were dangerous. They could hypnotize a man. He had never seen eyes so beautiful before.

But they were now looking at him with askance for help and that alone was enough to snap him out of his trance, instead focusing on what he had come to do. Right. He could feel the eyes of the whole room on them, taking in the situation, Toni's cornered position, Stephen's straight and proud back and the drunken man trying to force himself on Howard Stark's only daughter. He forced a charming smile to his lips and held out a hand towards Stark. "Excuse me for interrupting, but I was wondering if the lady would like to dance. She looked awfully lonely and bored here, all by herself." Which wasn't really true, as she hadn't been alone for longer than a minute since Stephen saw her, always being annoyed by some suitor or another. And if it wasn't a suitor, it was that annoying Justin Hammer, heir to his father's company that always tried to play rivals with Stark's company but was _way_ inferior, or a paparazzi reporter. Or a waiter who was kind enough to bring her a drink and prevent some other man coming to bother her if only for a short moment. Though she was _probably_ , definitely bored by all those same suitors/Hammer/reporters by now, too.

Before Ms Stark could reply, the drunk man put a hand around her waist and snorted at the doctor-to-be. "She ain't wanna dance with a no one like ya, kid. She ain't lonely or bored, she got me so git lost, ya little bastard."

Anyone else would have probably been cowed by the outburst and knowing this man could buy your house three times over or ruin your career with a single call, but Stephen just arched an eyebrow at him and said in a most bored, bland, sarcastic voice he could manage. "I think if Ms Stark wanted to spend time in your company, she'd visit the old-care home or maybe even the graveyard, so if you would excuse us," he didn't even wait for the response, offering Stark a hand which she took, shoulders shaking with concealed mirth as he took her out of the hold of the flabbergasted drunk man suddenly doused sober with pure rage and led her out to the dance floor. When he got into position, he was surprised by how willingly she fell into the right stance, too, seeing as she had castrated every man so far with words alone. He had honestly expected her to just let him lead her away before saying thanks but no thanks and running off to hide somewhere for the rest of the night. Instead, they started dancing to the music, suddenly the center of attention of _everyone_ there, even the other couples dancing. To be expected. Stephen had been receiving a lot of female attention while Stark had been the center of male attention throughout the night and they had turned down all their would-be suitors before the minute was up. But now they were dancing together and the center of all that pent up envy as they moved to the music.

"Thanks," Stark was the first one to break the silence, Stephen far too mesmerized by her eyes. He had found out she had gold flicks around her irises that made them look to be the color of whiskey but, unlike the drink, were very warm. He snapped out of it when she started talking. "I was getting desperate there. I think I would have resorted to either tazing him or kneeing him in the groin, consequences be damned. I think my dad would have only escalated it if he found out, so thanks. That was ... very sweet of you."

"He's a fucking pervert." Strange groused, glaring over his shoulder at the old businessman being roasted by what must be his wife. Good. "Besides, you really do look bored out of your mind."

Ms Stark rolled her eyes, huffing. "You have _no_ idea. Ugh. I'm only being approached by idiots. I'm pretty sure there are at least twenty ingenious people here - Dr Banner, Dr Selvig, Dr Wu, just to name a couple - and none of them are taking me seriously, just because of my age and, no doubt, my gender. Or maybe it's because of who my father was and what our company makes. It's not _fair_." Stephen had to concentrate extra hard enough not to stare at the strangely adorable pout he was subjected to. Instead, he snorted.

"I can relate to that. All the doctors here look down at me just because of my age when several hospitals are already fighting over me." At the curious tilt of her head, Stephen puffed up his chest and bragged. Just a little. "I'm still serving out my internship before I can become a legitimate, licensed doctor, let alone surgeon, let alone _neurosurgeon_. But because of my photographic memory and rather high intelligence and steady hands, I finished my M. D. and PhD in record time and even participated in several major surgeries already. It spread around real quick and now they're trying to hire me since my work is better than anyone's in the past ten years."

"Ah, so _you're_ the medical wonder boy who managed to reconnect that sportsman's sciatic nerve and prevented him from either becoming immobile or losing a leg? I heard the internal bleeding in the area made quite a mess on the operating table and that they had to replace a part of his hip. You were in that surgery?" Stephen nodded, a little stunned that she had heard it and remembered the details of it.

He was even more stunned when she started asking specific questions, starting first with the equipment they used - Strange lost her there for a second because, while he knew how to _operate_ the instruments, he had no idea how they worked from an engineer's perspective and he couldn't begin to hope to follow the engineering jargon she threw down like a pro - and then, much to his surprise, proceeded towards the more medical aspect of the surgery. She didn't have some of the specialized terminology to specify what she meant but she made do, often making analogies between muscles and pistons, veins and nerves and different wires, fuel and blood and managing to impress Stephen with her ideas, asking questions that not even the most sophisticated doctors could think of. It made Stephen want to prove himself to her, to impress her, so he pulled every bit of his knowledge from his memory and answered all of her questions as best as he could. Which wasn't easy, by any means. Ms Stark was a very curious person by nature and for every answer he gave, she had more questions. What was _really_ impressive was her own suggestions and comments, some of which would leave experienced doctors stumped. Stephen just filed away those observations for later, focusing on keeping up the conversation as they had been for the last ... How long were they dancing by now?

As if on cue, someone cleared their throat and Stephen and Toni both snapped out of their rapid-fire conversation and turned as one towards the intruder. There was a middle aged looking man standing in front of them with an amused expression on his face and Stephen was struck by the resemblance between father and daughter as it was none other than Howard Stark standing in front of him. The rich businessman shot a smile and held out a hand towards Antonia. "May I cut in?" Strange's dance partner just rolled her eyes but easily went into her father's arms, sending one last grin at Stephen before the two Starks waltzed away in a twirl of grace and glamor, leaving the future doctor to his own thoughts. He had to physically shake himself of the encounter with Ms Stark in order to anchor himself in the present and the party, looking around with the sudden realization that there were a lot less people present, most of whom remained were awfully drunk and, as he looked down at his watch, that it was considerably late. It was two hours past midnight. Where had the time flown by!? And how come no more girls had pestered him? Or guys Toni?

He shook his head, not believing that the party was practically over. Only he and Ms Stark had still been dancing up until now. How she and her father had enough energy to continue still was incomprehensible to Strange. He actually felt dead on his feet, now that he wasn't basking in Toni's seemingly endless energy. Talk about a captivating presence! He hadn't even realized that the world had ceased to exist as soon as they had started talking.

Sighing, Stephen shot one last look to the dancing and laughing, tireless Stark father-daughter couple before he left. He had had a good time but he had a long shift tomorrow. He'll need his rest so he can continue bettering his career.

And if there has a skip to his step and a wide grin on his face as he saunters around the hospital tomorrow, that was his business.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephen had always been a man of science, as a doctor, and had scuffed at all notions of magic and mystics since he was a little kid. There were no such thing as wizards and magical being and demons and whatnot, there were only hard, cold _facts_. Science existed to explain and prove things and it could do anything, given enough time to study the subject. The power of the human mind rested in being able to understand these facts and improve on them. There were no such things as spirits and souls and parallel dimensions and alternate realities. If you work on or study something hard enough, there will be results, humanity will conquer, to an extent, the natural law and let you fix or make something, something _better_ , something _more_. There was no magic, no miracles, no sorcery. Everything could and should be explained.

Or at least that's what Stephen Strange, doctor and most famous and successful neurosurgeon, thought until he had his accident and his hands were shot to shit, crushed, barely held together by eleven stainless steel rods and shaking so hard that he could barely hold up _anything_. Writing and shaving and often times eating was all but impossible and every surgery attempt, every experimental procedure failed him, leaching his money and not getting him any closer to holding a scalpel ever again. It drove him to search for an alternate solution, one the miraculously walking Pangborn after his complete C6-C7 spinal injury offered him, which led him to Kathmandu, Nepal. To Kamar-Taj. To the Ancient One.

To magic and sorcery.

How far he had gone from the man he used to be.

The training was rigorous and seemed unrewarding at first. Had the Ancient One not hurled him through the multiverse and had he not felt each and every dimension, he would have thought all of this to be fake. He wasn't making any progress but then his master left him on Mount Everest and told him to _surrender_ to the flow of energy, not to resist it. And after opening his first portal in order to save himself from freezing to death, alone, miles away from the nearest human contact, after that first feat of magic, it all came to him with an easy that both intrigued and worried some of the Masters. The Ancient One was both wary and proud of his progress and took more time to teach him. He continued to progress, making friends with Karl Mordo and the new library guardian, Wong, until he one day opened the Book of Cagliostro and using the Eye of Agamotto for the first time. It led to Wong and Mordo telling him about the Dark Dimension and Dormammu, about the duty of the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj and about Kaecilius, the last promising pupil who had progressed and questioned the Ancient One's teachings.

But during their little talk, Kaecilius and his followers attacked the London Sanctum and Stephen was thrown into the one in New York, where he helped defend it, making the Ancient One declare him it's new protector and master. He got the Cloak of Levitation there, too. A second fight ensued and both he and Mordo would have been dead if not for the Ancient One saving and protecting them. But Kaecilus got in a dirty shot and killed her. He had held her astral hand in her last moments before getting Mordo and heading out to protect the Hong Kong Sanctum. The Eye of Agamotto and its power over time proved invaluable and they managed to repair part of the Sanctum and bring back Wong before Dormammu could escape his prison. Unfortunately, the process was interrupted and Stephen had flown off into the Dark Dimension to face Dormammu himself in a desperate attempt to save Earth and all other worlds that Dormammu would enslave. He had put himself in a time loop, dying over and over again until Dormammu was freaked out and desperate enough to listen to his bargain.

Earth was saved and the Sanctum rebuilt, but Mordo left, which was quite a blow to Kamar-Taj's morale, especially with the Ancient One's death. Thankfully, she had thought ahead, as she should, with her knowledge of future events. Or rather, in Stephen's case, countless future possibilities. The Masters were to, if Stephen stayed, finish his training so he may take up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme as soon as possible. If he had thought his previous training sessions to be brutal, his new ones were torture. He was trained in every aspect of the Sorcerer Supreme's duties, which included more studying, more spells and more missions only high level Masters of the Mystic Arts can participate in and missions only the _Sorcerer Supreme_ can take, not to mention the truth behind the Eye of Agamotto and him being its new protector.

Which is how he found himself here, now, in this situation, in this fight against a once close friend with Wong and two other Masters of the Mystic Arts, after months of seemingly fruitless searching. Mordo had spent these last few months, in which Stephen had been training his ass off and slowly becoming the Sorcerer Supreme one step at a time, eliminating all those sorcerers who had trained at Kamar-Taj, settled for their miracle and left to continue their lives, continuously drawing energy from other dimensions every day for their own purposes instead of protecting Earth. Mordo had gotten it into his head that it was damaging the balance of natural law and so sought to 'fix' it by taking away their powers. As he was their former student, it was up to Kamar-Taj to prevent him from continuing down this path, especially as he had killed many of the people whose powers had had taken, either in the extraction process, leaving them alone for who knows how long if they survived it without anyone to help them or because they committed suicide when they couldn't repeat their training ever again, their inner energy points blocked. And as the Sorcerer Supreme, newly minted as he was, it was Stephen's responsibility to bring him in.

So here he was, with Wong and two others, getting their asses handed to them by Mordo. He had been expecting them and had set up a trap, restraining their magic to the point they had to exert far too much energy just to form shields to protect themselves. They had only lasted as long as they had because Stephen could use more energy due to the Eye of Agamotto, forming big enough Seraphim Shields to protect them all, the Cloak of Levitation dragging him out of harm's way when he didn't notice it and Stephen's own talent for the Mystic Arts. But even he began to strain after a while and just when they thought that this was it, that Mordo would take _their_ magic, too, if only to prove a point, something red and gold landed in the alley they had been fighting in the abandoned part of the industry district in some godforsaken town.

Looking up, all five sorcerers were more than a little confused and stunned when they saw none other than the famous Iron Maiden standing there in an armor unlike any Stephen had seen before, although that wasn't all that much of a surprise. The woman upgraded her armor very often, from what little he watched the TV to find out. It was rare that she didn't have something new to show off. Understandable, really. With the life she led, it was necessary. She probably found new things to add all the time. He still remembered perfectly well how their conversation had went, almost thirty years ago. A lot has changed since then, but he rather doubted Ms Stark was no longer the same 'just because it's working doesn't mean it can't be better' inventor she had been back then. The new armor was no surprise.

What _was_ a surprise, though, was her presence here. When Mordo didn't want to be found, there were chances even Kamar-Taj's best and most experienced Masters won't find him for months, as had been the case recently. Stephen and his group hadn't really thought to hide. If they needed backup, the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj had to be able to find them, after all. It would have been dangerous had there been more people who could detect sorcerers, but there was no more Kaecilius to worry about anymore. And they had kept their fight mostly low key enough that not even secret government spy agencies would notice it without looking specifically at that abandoned part of the industry district. So how was Stark here? _Why_ was she even here!? How did she find them? She had to get out of here! Mordo won't take lightly to her presence and Stephen and the others stood no chance against Mordo with the trap-curse he set up for them restraining their magic. Stark was in danger. Even with her suit, she stood _no chance_ -

Except she _did_ because she flung something at Mordo and an electrical shock rendered him a convulsing mess on the ground as Iron Maiden floated over to him with ease. Whenever Mordo tried to move, the voltage of his restraints upped a level and soon enough, it was too much and the rogue sorcerer was knocked out cold by the electricity. Stark just deactivated the current and knelt down in front of him, taking out some strange cuffs and a weird collar. Once they were in place, Mordo's wrists behind his back at such an angle that left him pretty much immobile, the genius inventor turned to look at them, faceplates and helmet retracting to leave the sorcerers leveled with the blandest look anyone other than Wong - or Stephen, who was learning it from the 'master' - has managed to develop on their face. "I fucking hate magic. Mind explaining what this whole RPG session is about, Strange? Because I always pegged you for a doctor scrubs and nurse outfit kink but not ... capes and magic wands and crystal balls I'm going to stop my analogy right there before it becomes awkward because I have _so much_ embarrassing magic puns."

"You know _Toni Stark_!?" Stephen leveled Wong with a look at the disbelief and skepticism along with the awe present in his voice at the prospect of Earth's first superhero standing right there in front of them. "How do _you_ know _Toni Stark_?" And said woman just had the gall to smirk at him, although Stephen noted she looked ... _older_. Which made no sense since her appearances actually looked barely a day over twenty five, which was weird enough on its own because she should be around forty, like Stephen. Not that Stephen looked all that old, either, except for the gray sideburns that only seemed to benefit his looks. But Toni, no matter how good she had always looks, no matter how many years younger, she had never looked _this_ much younger and Stephen, as a surgeon although not a plastic one, could tell it was not due to a cosmetic make over. She genuinely appeared twenty five or six. Thirty at the most.

And yet she looked _tired_. It took him embarrassingly quickly to figure out it was because the light had dimmed in her eyes. Those same eyes that he had never been able to forget, twinkling and shinning with an incredible intelligence and curiosity, a brilliant mind people hadn't wanted to admit to until Toni took Stark Industries into her own hands and started showing off what her brain could do, what her mind could come up with. Stephen had never seen eyes like hers, no matter how many pairs he looked into or how many years he had unconsciously searched for them.

"Aw, you didn't talk about me, Doc? I'm hurt." The teasing, dramatic reply to Wong's question snapped him out of his musings and he glared at first Stark and then Wong.

"I used to be a top notch doctor, Wong. We resided in the same social circles before my accident." The indignation in his tone only made Stark snicker while Wong continued looking at him dubiously. Strange decided to ignore the librarian and the two other flabbergasted sorcerers, instead turning to the one person not really belonging in this scenario. "Not to sound ungrateful for your assistance, Ms Stark, but may I inquire as to what you are doing here and why you interfered?"

The brunette snorted, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning most of her weight on one hip in that universal female way of showing disapproval with a man. "Are you going to try and tell me you had everything under control? Because I _saw_ how well you lot were holding out. You were getting your asses handed to you. I've dealt with magic users before. I know how to fight them. I know how to - mostly - painlessly and non-lethally _restrain_ them, something _you_ guys were having trouble doing. You should be thanking me, as I just saved all your asses."

"And we _are_ thankful, Ms Stark." Wong, who had a celebrity crush on Toni Stark, the Iron Maiden, the size of Everest, was quick to interject politely, surprising the three other sorcerers as they had _never_ heard Wong be polite before. "However, what the ever tactless and rude Sorcerer Supreme is trying to say is that we are _surprised_ you managed to track us down. The sorcerers of Earth have managed to stay hidden for millions of years from the rest of humanity. It is ... concerning that one man, or woman in your case, can so easily find us."

Antonia huffed, actually looking insulted. "I'm Toni fucking Stark. I've fought for two Infinity Stones, an alien and a robot army, two Infinity Stone enhanced individuals, one having something like magic and a fucking Asgardian sorcerer and an Asgardian warrior with a magical hammer. I've dealt with enough of shit like that to have highly sensitive scanners in the orbit to keep track of any similar activity so I can act in time to prevent another New York, London, New Mexico, Sokovia, Leipzig, Lagos or Germany incident. I've been aware of your little group for the last couple of months, although I don't know anything about your numbers, intentions or HQ situation, since you can apparently disappear off of the face of the Earth or have some special cloaking method I don't know how to get around as of yet. But I _do_ know you have an Infinity Stone in that fancy amulet." All four sorcerers stiffened when her eyes drifted downwards to rest on the Eye of Agamotto resting against Stephen's chest. "Now, you better start talking before I decide to report you to the Accords Council because discovering a group of secret wizards on Earth so soon after the Avengers Civil War doesn't spell good for us. I've just started getting the revisions accepted and I will _not_ let a bunch of hobo magicians ruin my hard work."

"You can't report us, Stark." Stephen said calmly, trying not to show how panicked he was internally at the very thought. "The Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj depend on our secrecy and independence to do our job."

"And what, exactly, _is_ your job? Hm? Making balloon animals?" They were practically chest to chest now, mandalas glowing around Stephen's hands, repulsors whining to life in Stark's. And despite the threatening stances and aggressive tension in the air, Strange swore it was just like they were dancing again, only to a much more lively and anticipatory tune. It was a challenge. Stephen never backed down from a challenge, leaning in even closer.

"Protecting your reality, douchebag." The aggression drained from Toni's face with those four simple words in an instant, being replaced by something ... Not unlike what Stephen had seen in his own eyes many, many, _many_ weeks after fighting Dormammu. Something haunting. Something terrifying. Something Stark apparently understood all too well. A nightmare that mustn't become a reality.

"Explain." Was all she said. Just that one word, just that one demand. Stephen nodded and took a step back, opening a sparking portal in mid air, only to stop when he heard the repulsors powering up again, the helmet snapping back in place over the woman's head and face. "No portals." Was all she got out in a strangled voice that sounded oddly like the beginning of a panic attack even through the voice piece. The Sorcerer Supreme nodded and closed it, instead summoning up a table, chairs and refreshments from thin air, presenting them to the genius. He gestured for her to sit while he and the other three sorcerers followed suit. Toni sat down directly in front of him and met his eyes as her _entire armor_ retracted into a glowing triangular device in her chest.

Stephen couldn't help but stare. The fact that her usually warm hazel eyes were a glowing blue very similar to the light of said device in her chest - an Arc Reactor, if he remembered correctly from the last time he had seen an article about the little (only in size) engineering wonder Stark had made in a _fucking cave_ nine years ago - in a very non-human way didn't help. "How ... ? What ... ?" He couldn't even formulate a single question, he was _that_ stunned.

Toni just shot him.a sharp grin. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

00000

"So, basically, what you're telling me is that you're going to so casually invest several _millions_ of dollars to fund a _magical cult_ you know next to nothing about based just on our word?" The oldest of the four flabbergasted sorcerers asked Sta- Toni as she prepared to leave, writing up her personal contacts on a business card to give to Stephen, who was probably the _least_ bit surprised but still rather stunned by her surprising generosity.

"Yup," the genius, billionaire, philanthropist replied casually, grinning at the four.

" _Why_?"

"Because it's basically pocket money for me and you guys obviously need some financial support, as I rather doubt saving the multiverse pays well." Toni shrugged and handed Strange the card. "My AI, FRIDAY, will probably answer. Just tell her who you are and you'll get patched through immediately unless I am in a meeting. We need to further discuss a possible alliance between the New Avengers and you guys without involving the Accords Council. I'm already working on special, separate clauses regarding Inhumans and mutants, so I'm guessing sorcerers can have their own separate paragraph, too. Besides, it's much more important for you guys. Anyways, think it over. I could use some fresh ideas. Don't stay a stranger, Strange!" With that, she waved even as her armor fluidly covered her entire body and she flew off before any of them could get in another word.

She was out of sight before they could even register it.

Stephen sighed, putting away the card he'd been given into a safe, warded pocket before turning around to face his companions, ready to get back to Kamar-Taj with their captive, only to find the three staring at him intently. "What?" He asked a bit defensively, the Cloak of Levitation bristling where he had remained calm. The three exchanged looks before Wong spoke up.

"Are you sure she can be trusted, Strange? She _is_ the main supporter of the Accords and those require all enhanced or superppwered individuals be registered and under contract with the governments of the world. Kamar-Taj cannot be put under that strain. We must remain unshackled in order to do our jobs."

Stephen understood Wong's worries, he really did, but he still found them unfounded. "Ms Stark may be vouching and fighting for the Accords the most, but she is, first and foremost, Earth's best defender _because_ she understands both sides of the Accords, both views. She knows now that we need our anonymity and freedom. I think Kamar-Taj's traditions are safe. She won't throw us under the buss." _'I hope,'_ he couldn't help but add in his head because, quite frankly? He had _no_ idea if Stark will really do as he tried to reassure his companions. It's not like they were especially _close_. They shared _one dance_ and one decent conversation. That wasn't exactly enough to form a concrete opinion. But one thing he _did_ know about her was that Toni was a woman of her word. He informed the others as much but they didn't look all that reassured. Still, they let it go and returned to Kamar-Taj, deciding to wait it out and see what Stark would do.

And when, two weeks later, the new revised Accords made no mention of Kamar-Taj or sorcerers, Stephen smiled and decided to dial the number he had been given. The new clauses for the mutants and Inhumans seemed promising enough. Perhaps it was the time for a joined effort.

She answered on the third ring. "Ready to rock, Doc?"

"Let's begin."


	3. Chapter 3

Kamar-Taj was both exactly what Toni had been expecting and yet nothing like it at all. Just the view of Mount Everest was breathtaking enough, even without the training sorcerers preforming various feats of magic all around her. And who would have thought _Toni Stark_ would ever be in a place of _magic_ by her own free will? How easily life changed.

It has already been two months since Toni and Stephen had fought for a place for Kamar-Taj and its sorcerers on the Blind Trust List, as Toni called it. It was a list of individuals with enhanced abilities, mutations or super powers that would sign the Accords under their chosen alias and would be called upon only when in extreme need, such as a repeat of any of the previous Avengers' conflicts and fights, but their identity and autonomy would remain as long as they didn't kill or permanently main someone. It had taken them a whole month of negotiations to manage it and when they did, there was a _huge_ celebration held in the Avengers Compound to welcome Strange as their newest - if occasional - member. The sorcerer had been accepted well enough by Carol and Hope but Vision and Rhodey were trying to be more careful as they had already been burned once. Peter and Harley had split their reactions into Peter being extremely excited and Harley ended up being the suspicious one. T'Challa, who was an even _more_ occasional member could only send greetings from Wakanda and a sincere welcome.

Toni had been surprisingly _very_ excited by the prospect of Strange joining the team. It would be the first time since Bruce that she would have an intellectual equal to talk with on an almost daily basis but without the walls between them that Banner always insisted on putting up. She never understood why he did that. She didn't fear the Hulk and the big guy liked her better than even Natasha, whom Bruce was kind of, not quite dating. The walls were unnecessary, especially as Toni didn't just invite _every_ person she met into her labs. She had considered Banner a friend. Perhaps he hadn't reciprocated the depth of that feeling.

Much like the rest of the Avengers but Toni wasn't going to think about that. Nope. She was _just_ getting better and she _refused_ to spoil it by thinking about those idiots. She especially wasn't going to ruin her first trip to Kamar-Taj, such a beautiful, magical - literally as well as figuratively - place by thinking of what the _last_ Steven had done to her. Only Strange wasn't _Steven_. He was _Stephen_ , with a p and an h. And a PhD, too! Anyway, she knew Stephen wouldn't be another Rogers. She had told him what the so called infallible, blameless Captain America had done to her and Stephen had promised her in a low, dangerous near whisper that he will feed him to Dormammu if they ever crossed paths.

Stephen Strange was quite possibly the first magic user Toni fully trusted.

"What do you think?" Said sorcerer asked from beside her, a somewhat smug look on his face as they overlooked his sorcerers. Yes, _his_. He was the Sorcerer Supreme, the protector of Earth and the Time Stone within the Eye of Agamotto, the one in charge of the mystical happenings and going ons on this planet, the Master of the New York Sanctum and Kamar-Taj's leader. These were his people, even if they were not military. They weren't soldiers. They were warriors. Somehow, despite her own views of magic after seeing only the bad of it so far, Toni felt she belonged here more than she ever had with the Avengers, maybe even the New ones. After all, she was the only _true_ civilian amongst them all. Here, everyone was a civilian, everyone was equal and their worth and place was determined by skill and knowledge, not fake or real ranks, assassin trainings or the type of training Hope received from her ex-SHIELD associate/agent/scientist father. She'd made her own way, her own strength, just like them, if only her power was mechanical and not magical. "Is it what you were expecting?"

"It's _beautiful_ ," she settled for instead of explaining her earlier train of thought regarding the place. The temple complex overlooking the market and other temples - only religious, not magical like Kamar-Taj - really was a sight to behold. It was as if she had stepped through not a space portal, but a time one because despite them having electricity and some form of communication with the outside world, even the Internet, this place looked like it belonged to times long since past. As if it was untouched by the rest of the world and yet the sorcerers training right there in front of her are from all over the world, different countries, different languages, different cultures, different back stories, different motivations, different _lives_. And yet there was harmony here, amongst all these strangers that became a group by themselves, a type of harmony that the old Avengers could never quite manage. The New Avengers got along damn well but even they can still be tense around each other for no apparent reason. Here, these people trained to fight and give their lives for protecting Earth, for guarding the balance that kept their reality safe, readying to face together threats that the Avengers couldn't even _imagine_ \- well, maybe Thor could, but he was very rarely around enough for it to matter all that much - and they knew, without a doubt, that they will have each other's back, that they won't judge, that everyone will give their all and be given a chance. That trust created the harmony of Kamar-Taj and Toni found herself desperately wanting to be a part of it.

"Many people have much the same reaction upon first seeing this place," Strange commented, holding his hands behind his back as he gazed at his training students. Toni wondered what that felt like, being responsible on that level for all of these people. Sure, she had SI's employees and even more distantly the public, but the only ones whom she felt any sort of intimate responsibility were Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Hope, Carol, Vision, Harley and Peter and her AIs. And maybe Peter's Aunt May, too. And maybe, to a point, just a little, she had once felt it for the now Rogue Avengers, too. Just maybe. "It is like no other. Here, those who have lost hope and perceive themselves or are considered by others as weak and hopeless cases get a chance to prove that they are _not_ weak. That they are _strong_ despite being broken. Kamar-Taj collects broken things and helps put them back together, making them more beautiful than ever before. Here, there is a place for everyone." He brought up his hands to eye level, allowing Toni to see the horrible scars his accident and the following surgeries left on his once surgeon's hands. They shook terribly. Not as bad as they used to, Toni would guess, before some of the procedures, but the trembling was more than obvious. "Our pain and our scars connect us. Here, more than anywhere else, we learn to _belong_. Our pain and our scars don't define us, but they are a part of who we are and they are accepted. _We_ are accepted."

"It's definitely a place worth protecting." Toni commented, looking away, allowing Strange to gather himself after that little emotional, verbal outburst. She thought of her own scars, of her own pain, hand laying over the Arc Reactor glowing in her chest, and wondered how _she_ , as broken as she was, never ended up in Kamar-Taj. She would like to belong here. Maybe she wouldn't feel so alone on some days where it all ached, despite Extremis have long since quelled all scars and chronic aches she used to have. The emotional pain never left. The mental scars never faded. "If there was only a small part of acceptance in the rest of the world like there is here, if only every country had _one_ Kamar-Taj, no one would ever feel like they don't belong."

"But there isn't," the man said remorsefully, placing a hand on Toni's shoulder as if to apologize or comfort her. She looked up at his green-blue-gray eyes and found them as wistful as she felt. "The world will never be ready to accept those who are different. It's the sad fact of our reality, one that not even magic can change."

"We can." Toni insisted, looking away, back at the market place. " _Humanity_ can. It just needs a push in the right direction. I want the New Avengers to be that push." It was why she fought for the rights of Inhumans and mutants so much even _before_ she met the sorcerers. She'd had _so many plans_ for the Accords, had been slowly but steadily working towards them, before Lagos happened and almost completely destroyed the chances of her suggestions ever being realized. Rogers and the rest only made it worse, even if Ross hadn't gotten involved before that point. They had torn apart all her hard work simply because they didn't want to even read the damned thing! The original group would have never been that push she wanted to New Avengers to be because, even though they let Bruce Banner walk around freely, they still feared the Hulk and treated both of them like skittish, _dangerous_ animals. And whatever Thor said was always taken with reservation, thinking him weird because of the cultural differences between Asgard and Earth while completely ignoring the fact that Steve couldn't work his way around a microwave. Thor wasn't used to Earth and their significantly different technology - Asgard was far more advanced, be it real magic or just a new form of science - and customs but Rogers was from Earth and while the time gape of him falling into the ice and waking up from it was seven long decades, he wasn't stranded on an _alien planet_. Thor at least _tried_ to figure them out, even though their lives were but a moment compared to his. Rogers, Toni had realized far too late, had never really out in that much of an effort.

Both the original and the New Avengers came from completely different back stories, led completely different lives and had completely different motives, but never have the New Avengers allowed that to put up barrier between them. Just like the now Rogue Avengers and the original assembly, the New Avengers had a (half) alien with yet unmeasured limits of power in Carol instead of Thor, a pilot flying Stark tech in Rhodey, a kickass, deadly martial arts lady in Hope instead of Romanoff, who also covered the shrinking part, too, two enhanced individuals who can more than _easily_ take on supersoldiers in Peter and T'Challa and they now had two magic users, if Vision counted as one in the first place, despite the Mind Stone. They don't need an obsolete thing like an archer when every single one of them had great aim. And they all came with the added plus of great intelligence and most of them had at least _one_ diploma. They don't have a Hulk, true, but the Hulkbuster armor VERONICA helps Toni pilot had beat the crap out of the green rage monster once already and that was _before_ Toni had Extremis and without fighting with lethal force. The structure of the team remained somewhat the same but the dynamics couldn't be more _different_. It only made Toni realize how _toxic_ the Avengers were.

Banner had been right. They were just a ticking time bomb, waiting to blow. And, like always, Toni had been in the epicenter of the explosion when it did, taking the brunt of it so the world would be mostly spared.

"Hm, we could be," her companion agreed thoughtfully, hand still on her shoulder. "The _Accords_ could be. They still need a bit more of work, but I think that between the two of us, Hope, T'Challa and Pepper, we can make it work."

"Please don't forget my super secret spy agency at SI. They'll be insulted." Toni smirked, thinking about the people she had pulled under her wing when Rogers and Romanoff fucked up a couple of years ago. They were now very overprotective of the woman who had saved all of their lives, most of their families and friends and they showed it by being ready to burn the whole fucking world down if it meant keeping her safe. They were all super spies, maybe not like Barton or a Red Room trainee and graduate like Romanoff, but they were damn good at their jobs. They had been placed into various divisions in SI, depending on what they were best at, so SI now had their own spy network that doubled as extremely competent employees in their legal, PR, R&D, management, marketing, research, publishing and a dozen other departments. Happy was living up to his name with the massive influx of competent security guards and Pepper now had one kickass assistant. SI was stronger than ever before.

"With how much you brag about it, I'm surprised it's still a secret." She laughed at his snarky retort, grinning as she turned to look at her friend. She did her best to ignore the gentle look in his eyes, not yet ready to acknowledge what it meant, instead focusing on one of the reasons she had come to Kamar-Taj today in the first place. She held up her briefcase full of different scanners, her grin widening even more at the half exasperation, half excitement appearing on her companion's face.

"Be that as it may, it's not why I'm here. When can we start?" She couldn't _wait_ to learn all she could about magic. She was sure there was a way science can explain the things sorcerers did if she could get the right frame of reference. Parameters. Boundries. Limitations. Laws. It all had to exist to _some_ extent, no matter what the sorcerers here claimed. Toni had heard it from Thor's own lips. Science and magic are pretty much the same thing. The only reason humans can't understand it yet is because they're trying too hard to do it with insufficient data. Her argument as much to the Masters of the Mystic Arts stirred interest in the subject, especially since the Sorcerer Supreme himself will be a part of her secret study - there was no way she was going to be like Jane Foster and and Dr Selvig, exposing a centuries if not _millenia_ old secret to the world just because she could. She could have done that to _Wakanda_ any time she wanted since meeting King T'Chaka, but she never did. The secret of the Bifrost may have no consequences for either Earth or Asgard, other than snnouncing Thor's comings and goings to and from Earth, but Kamar-Taj's secret sure as hell would. She wasn't doing this for recognition. It was just a scientific curiosity.

Stephen may try to hide it, but he was eager to try this out, too! He may be a sorcerer now, but he was still a doctor at his core, a man of science despite his position among magic wielding men and women. He had as many questions as Toni did, but he wasn't a scientist in the way she was. Toni will have to lead them through their experiments. Which was better. She always loved leading fellow scientist on an 'adventure of scientific awesomeness', as she like to call it. She and Bruce had made plenty of cool experiments before he decided to disappear off of the face of the Earth.

"You're like a child, Stark." Strange said with an over dramatic sigh but conjured up a ball of pure - dimensional, he had said - energy into the palm of his shaking hand, the trembles almost complementing the magic, making it appear even more powerful or taxing than something this easy ought to be, but making Stephen's utter, unflappable control stand out even more despite the hindrance.

Toni just winked at him, let her suitcase crash to the ground with a thud, eyes glowing bright blue as she connected to Extremis and activated the various scanners she had brought along. "And you're like a grumpy grandpa. Live a little!" She brought up a scanner to read the energy levels radiating from the orb, whistling when she read the results. Pretty high for such a small feat of magic. She wondered if that was good or bad. Toni couldn't quell the excitement as she realized she was probably going to be one of the first - if not _the_ first - to actually find out.

"I think I've lived enough." She tried to ignore his mumbling - they had become close friends in the time they have been working together on an acceptable solution for the sorcerers within the Accords and she didn't need to go on another raging rant about wanting him to open a portal to the Dark Dimension _right now_ so she could show Dormammu who was the boss - as she took another instrument that would measure whether there was any radiation, like there was excess Gama radiation from the Tesseract. She could feel Strange's eyes curiously peering down at her and did her best not to acknowledge it, instead putting that instrument away - there was none - while making notes with FRIDAY so they can throughly study her findings later and make a thesis. She picked up a _third_ instrument, one that picked up energy waves so she can see if it was making some sort of ultrasound or infrasound that the human ear - or even the slightly enhanced Extremis hearing - can't pick up when Stephen made an intrigued noise in the back of his throat. "What does that one do?"

"Well, basically, it picks up sound waves, energy vibrations in the air mass, which will tell me what type of energy it is." She frowned at the negative result she got. "Only it seems to have no radiation levels and doesn't stir the air, which is _bullocks_. Even quantum amounts of energy stir the air! It's just that we don't yet have the right equipment to measure it!"

"Toni, this is _dimensional energy_. It doesn't belong here." The former neurosurgeon tried to explain. "We may bring it into our world, but it is limited in how much it can influence this dimension without a spell that dictates its use. This," he throws up and catches the orb back into his hand when it falls down. "Is _pure_ energy from another dimension. Unless I make it into a spell or lose control of it, it won't do anything here except glow and look pretty."

"It's got to be doing _something_ ," the woman insisted, glaring at the ball of magic as if it had personally offended her. "It goes against the laws of physics for something to _be_ without having a consequence _somewhere_ , influencing _something_."

Strange rolled his eyes at her. "Not everything can be explained by strict, _limited_ scientific laws, Toni, least of all _magic_."

"I'll take that challenge, even if it takes me the rest of my life to prove it!" Toni Stark declared, looking him determinately in the eyes before glaring back at the offending orb of magic. It had no right to be so pretty. It didn't mean it was going to stop Toni from unraveling all of its secrets.

She ignored his exasperated sigh as she reached for the next instrument.


	4. Chapter 4

The New York Sanctum was quite possibly one of the most beautiful, most mysterious and definitely the most creepy of buildings that Toni had ever set foot in, no matter that it was now practically an everyday experience for her, what with being friends with an actual fucking _wizard_ (Sorcerer! her inner Stephen protested) for the last few months! It was so weird the step out of the remotely busy streets of Greenwich Village, New York, and step into a house that could easily fit into the world of Alisa in Wonderland or Narnia or Harry Potter or something. Still, she loved the contrast as she was welcomed within Stephen's domain, looking - but not _touching_ , since Stephen wouldn't let her - over the magical artifacts with their various magical powers and leafing through numerous books on all sorts of topics, mostly about magic from different parts of the world and how it was intertwined with the lives of everyday, ordinary people without them knowing even if only _one_ person was preforming it miles away. She and Strange would sometimes sit down and read through dozens of books until Wong came and shooed them out so they can have lunch or one of them was called away due to their busy lives and many duties. Other times, they'd just sit down and talk, maybe watch a movie, maybe play some games - Jenga was a big no no, as was Operation and Wong forbade them from playing crosswords in his presence since their abnormal brains had soaked up enough of words from various dictionaries that not even a librarian could keep up and it pissed the Asian sorcerer off - or just sit around in silence, using each other's company to chase away the nightmares so they could have a freaking well deserved nap before the world calls upon them again.

Unfortunately, coming here today was not a peaceful visit, a social call, if you will.

"Stephen? Wong? I'm here! What's the emergency?" She called out into the house, wandering deeper into the Sanctum, idly looking around. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a frantic Cloak of Levitation wrapped around her seemingly out of nowhere and started dragging her off in the direction of the room with those strange doors that led all over the world. She tried to dig her heels in when she saw that the magical artifact was dragging her towards what seemed to be a desert - Afghanistan still haunted her - but abandoned resistance when she got a good look at the situation on the other side.

A giant, reddish, monstrous, _ugly_ scorpion with purple eyes and pincers the size of a double-decker buss was attacking one Doctor Stephen Strange and one Wong, both looking already quite beaten up and Wong looking like he won't last all that much longer. Stephen didn't look like he could continue on like this for any longer than the older sorcerer himself, but he was definitely holding out better. If not for the giant gash on his temple and _was that a stab wound in his stomach!?_ Did that thing actually _stab_ him?! Toni was already suiting up and through the gate, firing her repulsors even before the rest of her body was through. Her aim was true and the creature screeched, bucking and retreating a little from the two tired sorcerers, snapping its claws threateningly at the Iron Maiden as Toni came to hover in front of its almost gotten prey.

"Okay, first of all, what the _fuck_ is that thing!? And _two_ , why are there only the _two_ of you fighting it!? It's fucking _huge_!"

"And incredibly dangerous. We couldn't afford to bring more people." Stephen retorted through his heavy breathing. "Someone would have just gotten injured or worse."

"Yeah, someone _has_ , dumbass!" The genius scolded even as she raised both hands and fired lasers at the scorpion when it tried to approach again. The thing let out a half enraged, half pained his and hid behind its pincers, which seemed to be made of tougher armor as the lasers weren't doing much to it. Toni cut off the attack in order not to waste power, looking briefly over her shoulder at the two men. "You still haven't answered my first question and I may as well as how and why it is here. And how do we get rid of it?"

"We mustn't hurt it." Wong said grimly, sounding very displeased but resigned with the idea. "It belongs to a queen of a conglomerate-like race from a neighboring dimension that will be _very_ eager and gleeful to start a war with _our_ dimension if we kill her pet. She and the Ancient One had an understanding. I guess she must be testing the new Sorcerer Supreme. Or it just managed to slip away from its guards and caretakers and into our dimension. We should have dealt with that rift _ages_ ago." The last sentence was grumbled in annoyance but was almost drowned out when their opponent shrieked and lunged at them. The Cloak got Stephen and Toni took Wong, putting him a safe distance away while firing a warning shot to keep the scorpion-like creature away. "We'll have to restrain it and bring it back to the queen. Somehow."

"Oh, yeah. _That's_ super comforting." Toni drawled, leveling a low-powered repulsor at the dimensional animal and firing. It shrieked in protest, making to swipe at them but they just repeated the earlier action, getting out of the way. "And how are we supposed to do that?!"

" _We_ , as in Wong and I who actually have _experience_ in fighting things like these, will figure something out, Stark." Stephen grit out, creating a rope of energy and lassoing it around the scorpion-like thing's legs, only it was apparently smarter than Toni would have expected and it jumped up into the air before Stephen could pull on the rope to trip it up. "You shouldn't even be here!"

"I shouldn't have been there for New York, either, but I was. And I highly doubt that there's a manual somewhere on fighting aliens any more than fighting dimensional beings, Strange." Toni retorted, already scanning the thing for weaknesses. If they can't kill it or damage it too badly, they'll need to find a way to subdue it or imprison it. Preferably both. "Why didn't you guys just place this thing in the Mirror Dimension and let it out when you get it back to its natural habitat or something?"

"It would wander away from the access point and be lost within minutes. We'd never be able to find it."

"Why not just put a tracker on it?" Both sorcerers actually froze and looked at each other with sheepish looks, but not daring look Toni in the eyes. The engineer rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, Strange, I thought you were supposed to be smart!" She flew higher and created a tracker out of her nanites, aiming for the back, where it won't be able to reach it and take it off.

She vaguely heard Wong smugly tell Stephen: "I told you it was a good idea to call her."

"Shut up, Wong. You're insufferable."

Toni ignored them, took aim and fired. The tracker snugly attached itself to the thick plating of the scorpion-like thing, registering on Toni's HUD as active and sending out a strong and stable signal. She returned to hovering beside the sorcerers, a little over Wong's head since Stephen was levitating at about the same level as she was with the help of the Cloak of Levitation. "How could you _not_ think of this!? It's the most logical thing in the world!"

"Are you even sure that thing will work in the Mirror Dimension?" Toni was very much indignant at the challenge, the _questioning_ of her tech's quality.

"That tracker has a fucking Arc Reactor. You could throw an Infinity Stone at it and it'd still give a signal!" Stephen conceded to that with a nod, dodging another stab the scorpion from hell tried to deliver with its very probably poisoned tip. How these two were still alive was a mystery to the genius. Had to be blind luck. "Would you just open a portal and get rid of that thing already!?"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Toni. I'm on it."

"Asshole."

"Douchebag." Strange retorted even as he did as he was told, opening the second biggest portal Toni had ever seen. Thankfully, she was used enough to the orange sparking portals that she no longer had anxiety attacks over them. Between Stephen and BARF, she'll probably mostly get over her aversion to magic, too. Said man made a sweeping gesture with a hand and the portal hurtled towards the scorpion thing, transporting it to the Mirror Dimension before it realized what was going on. As soon as it was fully through, the portal was closed and the desert fell into silence save for the panting of her magical friends and the comfortingly familiar sound of repulsors keeping her in the air.

And then Stephen suddenly collapsed to his knees, clutching the big wound on his stomach, face pale and sweaty from more than just excretion. Magic flickered at the tip of his fingers but he couldn't hold it. He let out a long, loud groan before tipped forwards, about to eat a faceful of sand had the Cloak not caught him at the last possible moment, fluttering around his body in distress at its master's state. Stark and Wong were instantly there, instructing the Cloak to spread out so Stephen can lay down for them to examine him. Strange was nearly delirious but he tried to protest that he was fine, attempting to sit up and prove it or just 'walk it off'. Toni pushed him down with a dark scowl on her face, the one she used to prevent her panic from showing through. "Fine, my ass!"

"'Tis a fine ass," was a mumbled reply that left her utterly speechless because of how unexpected it was. Sure, she was _perfectly_ aware that she had one of, if not _the_ finest looking asses in the world - there was apparently a vote on some site on the Internet a few years ago and Toni had won first place; she still held it to this day, thank you very much - but she had never thought _Stephen_ of all people would comment on it. She could feel her cheeks heating up. "'S pretty."

"Um, thanks?" Stark tried not to wince at how squeaky that reply came out. It was _embarrassing_. The guy was obviously not aware what he was talking about! And it's not as if no one's told her she has a fine ass before! Like stated earlier, she's well aware of that! Plenty of guys and even some girls have told her that! She'd never blushed before, not even back in MIT, when she'd first heard it. But, somehow, it being Stephen who said it made it different. Which was ridiculous and she completely blamed that pathetic part of her that was falling in love with him despite the message life had tried to teach her with Rogers. It's not as if he complimented her eyes or something!

"But not as pretty as yer eyes. I love yer eyes." If her hands weren't busy keeping pressure on his wound to stop him from bleeding out, Toni was sure she would be hiding her face in them right now because it was _flaming_ hot.

"Now's not the time to grow the balls to hit on her, Strange." Wong deadpanned, in the middle of using a spell to extract any poison or infection from the wound. "You're the doctor. What do we do?" But said doctor wasn't helping. He was slurring Latin and Greek words that, even when FRIDAY helped translate them, made no sense. "Well, I did as much as I could." He said as he took out the past of the poison and stored it away in some weird container he magicked up from thin air. Stephen already looked better but was still bleeding quite a bit. He needed medical intervention.

Toni whipped her head up to stare incredulously at Wong. "What do you mean 'as much as you could'?! Don't you have some healing spell or something!? What's the point of having magic if you don't use it!?"

"Yes, there are healing spells and yes, I know some but none of those are nearly powerful or sufficient enough to heal _this_ wound." The sorcerer replied, sending her a glare. "Besides, healing magic is a whole different, separate branch and only those who are talented for it can use its healing powers to their fullest potential. I am a fine sorcerer, but I am not nearly as good with healing magic as Stephen is. I can offer no more than extracting the poison from his veins."

"Can we move him? Do you know some place we could bring him for a doctor to treat him? I can use my nanites to stabilize him but it's only temporary." She'll have to specialize more nanites for medical purposes. It will definitely come in handy in the future. Toni wished she had thought of that earlier. Stephen wouldn't be slowly bleeding to death under her hands right now if she had.

"Yes, I know a place. But be quick about it." The Asian man then turned to the Cloak. "As soon as they're ready, lift Stephen up and carry him through the portal. Find a stretcher or a medical bed. Be careful not to let anyone see you." The magical red cloth gave a cute impression of a salute even with how stretched out it was to prevent the sand from getting into the wound. Toni already had nanites ready, eyes glowing blue, directing the miniature working bots to start cauterizing the wound and preventing further internal bleeding from the organs.

"You know, we _could_ just bring him to Kamar-Taj and find someone who knows healing magic to fix him up." She offered even as she worked, bringing forth everything she knows about anatomy and everything she didn't know, she had FRIDAY search for and send directly to her brain. Extremis was a blessing in situations like these. It helped her find the bleeding areas and stop the flow but she wasn't a doctor and feared doing anything more than that lest she mess something up. A doctor will be best for the stitches this will need.

"Unfortunately, we literally have only seven healers, other than Stephen, and only _four_ of them would have enough power and knowledge to heal a wound like this. And one of them is in another dimension with a team of sorcerers, one is a Sanctum guardian and the other two, no matter how talented for the healing arts, are not nearly experienced or trained enough to take on a wound like this without guidance."

Toni looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Here she had thought Kamar-Taj was ready for _anything_ and the only thing they were really ready for was the end of the world. Admirable, yes, but utterly useless in the grand scheme of things since they won't _live_ long enough to try to stop it. Stark just shook her head. Maybe it was just the situation at hand? She dearly hoped so because a _lot_ depended on these people. She let it go, instead focusing on finishing up the quick patch job. "I have a lot to say about that but I won't, at least not _now_. Later is a whole different matter." She sprayed a protective layer over her work and nodded to Wong. "This is the best I can do. I'd like to take him directly into the Cradle, but Dr Cho is unavailable for the next two weeks because of a science conference. By then, Stephen will, hopefully, be well enough to heal himself. We just need someone to do the stitching now. He's ready to be moved, just ne careful not to jostle him too much." The last was said to the Cloak of Levitation as it slowly rose from the ground. Wong nodded and turned around to open a portal directly into a big supply closet in what appeared to be a hospital. He waited for Toni and then the Cloak with Stephen to pass before he jumped through himself and closed the portal. There was a medical gurney prepared and the Cloak simply lay down on it before doing a _real_ magical trick and slipping out from underneath the doctor without disturbing him. "Nice. You can do birthday parties, then."

The Cloak, instead of getting annoyed at her, just wrapped around her shoulders, startling her. It started shifting and before Toni knew it, the thing had morphed into a _very fashionable_ red trench coat that looked damn good on her. She turned to ask Wong what it was doing, but the sorcerer was already pushing Stephen out of the room. She followed when the Cloak-turned-coat lurched in the same direction, going after them, retracting the armor on the way. The Cloak shifted some more to accommodate the even slighter frame, even if it was only by a little - the Bleeding Edge armor did wonders for showing off her figure! She quickly caught up with Wong and followed him as he made it to the nurse station, where there were three people, a male nurse, a male doctor in a coat and a female doctor in an ER green outfit.

"Dr Palmer, we require your assistance," Wong said even before they reached the station, but before Dr Palmer, apparently the female surgeon, could answer, the man in the coat beside her snapped.

"I'm sure it can wait, sir. This is more important." And then the guy proceeded to discuss a procedure which Toni found suspiciously familiar. She cleared her throat and arched an eyebrow when the man whirled around to snap at her, only to freeze upon seeing none other than _Toni_ fucking _Stark_ standing there, looking none too amused. Just to scare the shit out of him a bit more, Toni bared her teeth in a scary mockery of a friendly smile that was more threatening than a knife to the throat.

"You wouldn't happen to be asking about the Palmer-Strange technique, would you? Because I'm sure _Doctor Strange_ will be _glad_ to help Dr Palmer explain it to you so even your puny brain can understand it. That is, if you _let her save him_." Dr Palmer, a woman of similar height to Toni, with lightly curled chestnut hair and warm, kind, chocolate colored eyes, paled as she registered either Wong, the subtly moving in an nonexistent wind Cloak-masked-as-a-long-jacket or the man on the gurney himself, it remains unclear, before rushing off towards the rolling bed like thing.

"Billy, prepare operating room six and a bag of blood, type 0 negative and lock it up behind us. Dr Hudson, I'm afraid we'll have to continue this discussion another time." Dr Palmer rattled off as she and the nurse, Billy, wheeled Strange away, Wong and Stark following. Toni would have stopped in front of the operating room if not for the Cloak, which pulled her in after Wong and the others. Billy quickly prepared everything they'll need while Dr Palmer put on scrubs and washed her hands, preparing for the operation. "Talk to me, Billy."

"Stab wound, pretty deep, I'd say about six to seven inches-"

"Nine, actually." Toni corrected, the data from her own little intervention still scrolling in her eyes. The two stopped what they were doing to look up at her, only to gawk as it finally registered just _who_ she was, having been mostly distracted by Wong and Stephen's condition.

"Oh my god! You're Toni Stark!" Billy stammered out, the doctor still staring at her with wide eyes. "Can I have an autograph? I'm such a big fan of yours! I always thought your work was amazing and Iron Maiden is _awesome_ , but I heard you are working on a line of prosthetics and I think that's so _cool_ -"

"Can you go back to saving his life, because, quite frankly, I'll still be Toni Stark in an hour or so but he won't be Stephen Strange. He'll be a corpse." She jabbed, perhaps a bit too snappishly, but this reminded her far too much of waiting the results for Rhodey's operation after his fall in Germany and it made her edgy. But that served its purpose and snapped the two out of their stupor upon seeing the Iron Maiden herself in their humble operating room and instead focused on their patient. Toni wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Dr Palmer saying something about it being the time to be 'doing your freaky ghost but not really a ghost magical thing' to the unconscious man. She was about to ask her to repeat and explain what she said, but jumped out of her skin when a not quite physical hand landed on her shoulder.

"Don't you think that you're being a bit too hard on them? That's no way to treat your fans- whoa!" The next second only the sounds of destruction caused by her repulsor blast could be heard, as well as said repulsor recharging for another shot. Only she hadn't hit anything. The shot had went _straight through_ a see-through apparition of none other than the Sorcerer Supreme. Toni was breathing hard, right hand clutching at her chest to calm her heart and the left one, the one that was equipped with the repulsor, was raised, primed and ready to kill. Her eyes were glowing with the power surge of Extremis reacting to her fright and practically activating all of her self defense and survival instincts at a speed they should _not_ be awakened. Behind Stephen's incorporeal form, there was a huge black mark on the wall and a good chunk of it had melted through as she had perceived danger and hadn't exactly restricted the power in the repulsors to a non lethal level. Had Strange's actual body been there when she had fired-

Toni could practically _feel_ her brain short circuit as she whirled around to see that Stephen's actual body was _still_ on the operation table with a scared Dr Palmer and Billy hovering over them, interrupted in their work by the loud noise but not terrified for their lives - she wondered what these two had seen and been through with Stephen before to be so non pulsed, compared to how normal people would be reacting, anyway - but there was also an apparition of Stephen standing behind her now, hands now raised in a placating and peaceful gesture that was supposed to be non threatening, a worried frown on his face.

The genius glared at him. "Jesus _fucking_ Christ, Strange! Don't _do_ that! I have a heart condition!" At least the man had the sense to look guilty. "And what the hell even _is_ that!? Oh my god, you're not _dead_ , are you!?"

"No," Stephen hurried to assure her, floating closer to her. She only now noticed that behind him, it looked like reality was a broken mirror and that wind bells and chimes of cracking glass followed his every move. "But I am-"

"Telling her you're not dead but _are_ dying isn't going to help her anxiety levels, Stephen." The only other female - save FRIDAY, who was warning her that her heart rate was dangerously high - in the room said with a brief reprimanding glance and Toni could practically _feel_ said anxiety levels jumped a notch or two. Stephen, as if sensing this, glared at the other doctor.

"I was going to say 'but I am going to be _fine_ so you can calm down' but thanks for bringing _that_ up, Christine." The other brunette looked sheepish and shot Toni an apologetic look before returning to her work. Not a second later, the heart monitor was connected and a calm, steady, soothing beat filled the room as the two worked. Toni was complemented for her fast thinking and her nanites, as they actually _have_ started the stitching process even if they weren't designed for that - yet; Toni will be making a _lot_ of changes real soon - and said process was started by the time Toni got her heart rate under control again and her panic ebbed away completely. "No, don't put the stitches so close together, Christine! It'll leave an uneven scarring!"

"I know what I'm doing, Stephen. I work in the ER. Stitches are a day to day occurrence!"

"But you're not stitching _my_ body every day!"

"I am every other _week_ and I don't see any of the scars you're fearing now!"

"Stephen, just let the woman do her job. And what an insulting way to make use of the Astral Plane."

"Shut _up_ , Wong, or I'll leave _you_ to scar the next time you get a nice big hit in the face."

"I can't believe you know Ms Stark, Doctor Strange!"

"It's old news by now, Billy."

" _I_ can't believe you're acting like such a baby in front of a woman who saved the world singlehandedly, _twice_."

"No one asked for your opinion, Christine."

Toni stayed quiet during all of this banter, letting the rhythm of the four lull further any anxiety that had remained, enjoying the way the Cloak of Levitation seemed to be petting her cheek. By the time Stephen could return to his body, Wong had left for Kamar-Taj to report the finished mission and Billy had been paged away to one of the intensive care wards he now worked at - "Are you _sure_ you don't want to be my doctor again, Doctor Strange? Because those were the best work years of my life! This is _torture_ , Doctor Strange! Please come back!" "As much as I loved being a doctor, I am now the Sorcerer Supreme and the Earth needs my protection. I'm sure you'll be fine, Billy." "No~!" - Christine just washed her hands of any blood that might have started up again as the protective surface the nanites had made was breached, told Stephen sternly to actually let his body heal on its own this time before bidding Toni goodbye and leaving them alone.

Stephen frowned at her in worry and reached out for her, calling her name in a quiet, careful voice, as if she were a skittish animal. Toni didn't care about her image when she all but flung herself into his arms - careful of his wound, of course; what do you take her for! - gripping at the back of his blue tunic. "Toni?"

"Don't you _ever_ dare to do that to me again. _Ever_." Her voice was hoarse from all the emotions clogging her throat, making it difficult to speak. It wasn't a new experience, feeling terror, the rush of adrenalin, fear, dread, panic, relief and happiness all in the same day, in a matter of couple of hours, but it was still as exhausting as ever. She hated feeling this exhausted.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that. I wasn't thinking. I forgot how the first Arc Reactor surgery and everything following it had affected your heart."

Toni pulled back a little just as his arms were coming around her in a comforting way. She was pretty sure her face was the definition of incredulity. "Seriously? You think _that's_ why I'm upset?" She lost it when she saw his lost expression. It was too much to keep at bay after the day she'd just had. "I'm not upset because of my heart condition! I lived with two super spies! I got used to it _years_ ago! I'm _upset_ because one of the most important people in my life nearly died in my arms again! For the fourth fucking time!" In only the time that she'd known the Avengers, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey had all nearly died while she held them or was forced to watch as doctors struggled to keep them stable and healthy. Happy was nearly _blown up_! _Pepper_ nearly _blew up_! Rhodey fell out of the sky and will never walk again without the prosthetics she'd made him! After watching Yinsen _actually die_ and after seeing that fucked up vision Wanda had shoved into her head a couple of years back, her worst nightmare is _surviving_ when someone she cares about does not.

And she cares _very deeply_ for Stephen.

She frowned in confusion when she saw a flicker of disappointment in Stephen's eyes. What the hell? "I see. Sorry I brought back memories of nearly losing your friends, Toni. Though you _should_ know I'm made of sturdier stuff. You won't lose me."

"You sure?"

"Quite sure. I won't let you lose another friend, Toni, especially not a doctor friend."

She stared, incredulous, wondering if she was as dense as he was being right now. No, no she _wasn't_ because she had him figured out since day one. Since that day they had danced together, even if Stephen only relatively recently realized it. Toni had been on the receiving end of all kinds of gazes and looks, from hate to lust to something that should have been romantic, unconditional love, and yet no one had _ever_ looked at her the way her supposedly genius companion does all the time. She had known his feelings for her before he had. Yes, she had never acknowledged them but she just _hadn't been ready_ for a relationship yet. Not back then, when she'd only wanted freedom and independency, and most _definitely_ not after what Steven Grant Rogers did. She'd needed _months_ to recover from the loss of her unborn child and to accept the fact that she will never have a chance to have children again. Not any of her own flesh and blood, not another brilliant little Stark to revolutionize the world.

She was as over that now as she was ever going to be. Her heart - her tired, beaten, broken, barely beating heart - was insisting she was ready now. It wanted to give itself to this man who had so easily become a constant part of her life, a pillar of stability as much as Rhodey, Pepper, Happy and her AIs were. Him and his funky magic.

Yes, she could deny herself - and him - this chance at a deeper relationship - they both admitted they sucked at them and they'd probably only end up permanently breaking each other, _for good_ \- to protect herself, and him, of the possible future hurt but she _didn't want to_. She had the right to just be _selfish_ for once, right? _Just this once_.

So she took a deep breath, swallowed down her nerves and locked their gazes, thanking the heavens fkr heaving mercy to let this happen while she was standing and he was sitting so that she didn't have to mimic a baby giraffe trying to reach his cheek. She felt his breath hitch and pulled slowly back, watching in satisfaction as a wide eyed Strange flushed like a lovestruck schoolboy.

"Only I don't see you as _just_ a friend, Doctor Strange."

The smile on Stephen's face was surely brighter than any star in the cosmos. "Then you can bet on it that I will _never_ leave your side, my lovely Doctor Stark."

The smile that lit up her own face was like the sun after the storm and she felt her life might just be looking up for once.

"Um," Dr Christine Palmer's voice interrupted their moment like a scratched record and both superheroes turned to look at the sheepish woman. "Sorry to interrupt, hut we need the operating room, if you don't mind."

Toni wondered if it was possible to die of embarrassment.


	5. Chapter 5

Stephen swore he was going to _die_ of embarrassment. It was possible. Or, at least, it _will_ be now that he goes through it. He was a pioneer in this new field of cause of death.

Doctor Stephen Strange, world class doctor and neurosurgeon (former, as it may be), Master of the New York Sanctum Sanctorum and the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, died of embarrassment. What a way to go. Stephen can just _hear_ Dormammu howling with laughter at how pathetic he was. How _humiliating_.

And all because of his stupidity, too. The Ancient One would be so ashamed of her disciple.

Well, at least it wasn't because of pride or vanity. That would have been even worse and even _more_ humiliating. And an even greater disgrace to the Ancient One.

All of this, _all_ of _this_ only because he hadn't listened to Wong when his friend had told him to take Toni with him on this little visit. But he wasn't about to take his girlfriend of a month to another dimension for an alliance-affirming meeting just a few weeks after nearly dying to that scorpion-thing that comes from this very dimension's queen's pet collection. Especially not since it was her first chance to get some real rest in well over two and a half weeks. It should have been a standard, easy thing. The Ancient One had done it thousands of times without any problems and Stephen had already proven himself as a worthy successor after returning the queen's pet to her. He had thought he had this in the bag and so had disregarded Wong's advice to take Toni with him. It's not like it would even be their first dimensional outing together, either as a mission or as a date or even as a combination of the two!

He was regretting it now, tied up in some weird-ass web while the queen herself crooned over him, her attendants murmuring things in their language that not even his translation spell could understand, meaning it was probably their version of jargon or slang. Just great. All he _did_ know about his situation is as following.

After having returned the queen's pet to her, he had been invited to come back to the queen's dimension to re-affirm the alliance she and her people had with Kamar-Taj, with the new Sorcerer Supreme. He was going there like a foreign dignitary or something. He _could_ have brought someone along, the queen had assured him of that from the start, but all the other Masters were busy with their own duties, bringing along a disciple would only put their life in danger and Wong was looking after the Sanctum for him. The librarian had suggested taking Toni with him as backup, should anything go wrong, but Stephen had declined. Why? Because his poor girlfriend was finally getting some rest after nearly three weeks of non stop working and UN and Accords meetings. And _why_ were there so many meetings of the UN and the Accords Council, one might ask.

Well, that would be because King T'Challa of Wakanda had decided to propose the pardon of the Rogue Avengers and reinstating them into the current team's roaster.

The world had, predictably, not reacted well.

The Council had, even more frustratingly predictably, expected Toni to deal with it.

And his girlfriend, Vishanti bless her, had flat out refused.

That alone had been a cause for celebration once the New Avengers, Pepper and Happy heard about it. It had been a rather grand party for just the handful of them. It was also perhaps the first time Rhodey wasn't glaring at him for dating the man's best friend and practically little sister in all but blood.

That, of course, wasn't the end of it, though. _Oh_ , no. That was just the beginning. Because Toni wanted to have nothing to do with Rogers and his merry band of international criminals and terrorists. She stood by the Accords and the Council fully supported her idea that they shouldn't be returned to the roster, rather to just be an emergency contact if the New Avengers ever ended up being in over their heads. T'Challa had argued about response time, since not even the fastest of jets will get them there in time if the fight is too far away, but Toni had shot that argument _way down bellow_ by reminding him of the standing alliance with Kamar-Taj and its sorcerers and the portals and gateways said sorcerers used for instant travel and could portal them in if they were evr needed. The argument that the Rogues had important battle experience had Stark barking out a laugh on national television, reminding the world that one of the Rogues was a willing HYDRA agent and that her experience is anything but valuable - she also threw it, indirectly, into Rogers' face all of his arguments that a _twenty six years old_ is a _kid_ by saying she was obviously not mature enough to be an Avenger. T'Challa tried to turn that on her by saying Spider-Man and Rescue was the same but the dangerously arched eyebrow and a flash of blue in Toni's eyes had him backing down even _before_ Toni reminded him that Spider-Man had the _sense_ not only not to join a terrorist group from all the way back in the forties but also to _read_ the Accords before deciding whether he wanted to sign in any capacity - that two others were assassins of the fallen SHIELDRA and who knows how many other clients before Nick Fury scouted them out, one was a washout pilot and the last one was an ex-con artist.

She dug into Rogers the most, saying he was a man out of time who didn't have a clue about how the _real_ world worked outside of his demented head because he thought he was _always_ right, even when he had no idea about anything to do with the modern world. He was the type of soldier that didn't fight to end a war, but to _continue_ fighting because he couldn't do _without_ a war. The psychological evaluation SHIELD had done on him after the events of New York back in 2012 confirmed it, which was why they had kept sending him out into the field when he wasn't needed _at all_. He was delusional, secretly occasionally violent and had a grand, openly known and acknowledged but _dismissed_ and ignored distaste for everything of the twenty first century. SHIELD had seen that but had not bothered trying to change anything, seeing a lost cause that was not worth it losing several of their most competent psychologists. When T'Challa just _opened_ his mouth to try and get in a few words edgewise to somehow defend Rogers, Toni went further, reminding people of the Captain America propaganda and the truth behind it, tearing him down and setting him aflame by telling the world the _real_ reason Rogers had fought in the so called Civil War: Bucky Barnes, the assassin known as the Winter Soldier, brainwashed or not. He was ready to let the world burn for one man and would not accept compromises.

T'Challa kind of just kept quiet after that, but Toni was not in luck. The US wanted its national icon back, even if said national icon was hated by about 70% of the populace. T'Challa and Wakanda alone wouldn't be able to push the pardons through on their own, what with being so new to being 'open' - the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj know damn well what hides beyond their borders - to the rest of the world, but in having a big ally like America on its side ...

It helped that Toni couldn't care _less_ about what happens to the Rogues beyond keeping them _off of her new team_. A team which supported her stance completely. Rhodey and Carol may be the leaders of the New Avengers, but Toni was their uniting and driving force. They want the Rogues back even lass than she does and she'd rather forget they ever existed altogether.

That, however, was only the first of those meetings and, combined with her already hectic schedule, it was forcing Toni to put her life - or rather, her _sleep_ since she always made sure to have time for her loved ones, even if only an hour for them _all_ \- on hold and stressing her. So Stephen had wanted to be a good boyfriend and let her enjoy her sleep instead of dragging her along for something that should have been laughingly easy. He would have done more, but she forbade him from sending the Rogues, T'Challa or the president to the Dark Dimension and agreed with Wong that he wasn't allowed to freeze or even slow down time just so she could have a nap. So, yeah, Stephen had just been a loving boyfriend when he had decided to go on this mission alone. And maybe a bit protective.

And _possibly_ a tiny bit stupid. Just a little.

Because as soon as he had stepped alone into the throne room, these people have somehow interpreted it as him comping to _propose_ or _proposition_ the queen to become _mates_. _Mates_! He did not want to _mate_! He was a human! He had just gotten into a relationship he would _really_ like to stay in for as long as he can! He didn't want to become some sort of ... of ... _consort_ to this ... _creature_! He can't even pronounce the name of their species! How do they even see this _working_!? And _why_ does a conglomerate-like species have _tentacles_!? How does that even work!? They're two completely different types of 'exoskeleton', lets say, ignoring the fact that normal squishy things with tentacles don't _have_ any type of skeleton at all. No protective plating or supporting tissue like bones. And why was his brain even _focusing_ on _that_!? He was about to be forced to become what is essentially a sex slave to this thing and expected to help in producing progeny! _Somehow_!

 _'Oh, dear Vishanti! They better not be like those aliens from cliché science-fiction movies that lay eggs in the body and let the things hatch and eat through the tissue to crawl out into the world.'_ And, if he survives this, he's never letting Peter and Harley drag him into their movie nights. The Cloak still refused to let him sleep alone, suspiciously eying his closet and every puddle they come across due to some choice films the boys made him watch with them. It was probably some sort of revenge for dating their beloved mentor slash mother figure. Given the shovel talk he got from them and how utterly _terrifying_ that was, he wouldn't be surprised. He's not even all that upset. He's just sorry for the poor Cloak which refuses to leave his shoulders and near suffocates him when it tries to get him away from the TV. _'I think I'd give anything for this to be me dreaming about one of those demented movies instead of me really being here.'_ If only his Cloak were free! It would have kicked all of their asses with one fold tied behind its 'back', but they had wrenched it off of twenty giant guards were sitting on it to restrain it. He owed that Cloak. A _lot_. There was no loyalty like its, despite what the Ancient One had said about it being a fickle thing. _'Hopefully, we can get out of this and I can make it up to the Cloak somehow.'_ It deserved it.

But that was only if they somehow managed to escape, a feat that seemed more and more impossible as time passed by. And to think he had thought, _hoped_ that his life was finally looking upwards with the start of his and Toni's relationship. That's what he gets for hoping. He'll probably never see Toni again-

He was as startled as everyone else when a sparking orange portal opened in the middle of the throne room, showing the library in the New York Sanctum on the other side with Wong peering through but not making any move to come through. Someone else did. Stephen's blood froze as none other than Toni Stark, dressed in her sharpest business suit, walked through, her sunglasses perched on her elegant nose as she peered over them at the scene before her. It was fascinating how even in a whole different dimension, her mere presence dominated the room so effortlessly. All the people there were staring at her as she confidently sauntered right up to the queen and leveled her with the flattest look Stephen had seen her wear so far, or at least if it was directed at something other than the Rogues and their advocates in the UN and Accords meetings. T'Challa's been getting the brunt of those looks for the past couple of weeks and would no doubt continue getting them as long as he vouched for the Rogues.

But while T'Challa took it with grace and a sheepishness it deserved seeing as what and whom he was vouching for, the queen bristled, raising her mandibular-like things and tentacles and a scorpion like tale at the Iron Maiden and hissed in her face. She only got more frustrated when the intimidation tactic didn't work and Stark just arched an eyebrow at her, unimpressed.

"Your highness," she drawled, apparently having gotten a translation spell from Wong, who was no doubt the one to call her here in the first place, eyes flicking so briefly towards Stephen that, had he not been all but drinking in her appearance, he would have missed. It felt like a stranded man seeing a ship approaching his remote, uninhabited island. Apparently he wasn't about to become a sex slave to the queen. Thank Vinshati.

"What do you want, little human?" The queen hissed, glaring with her strange face and eyes at his girlfriend who might dump him because of this. Well, she looked a bit better rested than when he had left Earth, which was to be expected, he supposed. An hour here was like three to four Earth hours and he's been here approximately an hour and a half. He and the Cloak have struggled, putting off the mating ceremony as much as they could, although even without their interference, it was a long and slow one. It didn't change the fact that Toni was a godsend.

"I would like for you to be so kind as to let go of _my_ mate, please, before I am forced to act and take him back on my own. Him and the Cloak of Levitation." Strange could just barely see said ancient magical artifact wave in relief at the woman. He focused on that and tried not to get too elated by the implication of Toni's words. He doubted she understood. Wong had probably told her to say that. There was no way she had wanted to say they were _married_.

"If he is your mate, then why has he come alone? Why were you not with him, wench?" The queen challenged, caressing Stephen's face with a tentacle. Toni's eyebrows pinched, only a little, at the move but she remained calm.

"He did not know your customs and had assumed bringing his exhausted mate after so busy a week would not be needed. He came here looking for peace and allies. Instead, he got _this_ ," she gestured at the situation in general, arching a mocking brow at the queen. "What do you think this will do to your reputation? He's the Sorcerer Supreme. It will get out how you treated him and I highly doubt anyone will want to have anything to do with your people. It's bad for your economy, you know. Bad for your people. And bad for _you_ when it gets out that you've tried to mate by force a taken man. So I suggest you let him go and affirm whatever alliance you were supposed to affirm and we all go on our merry way before you manage to piss me off. I'm _really_ not in the mood."

Should it really be that hot that your girlfriend is such a badass?

The queen growled wordlessly at the woman, who didn't budge on bit, Wong watching with interest from the opened portal, before the queen snarled with disgusted rage and ordered her people to let the Sorcerer Supreme and his loyal artifact up. Stephen sighed in relief as he got up, the Cloak of Levitation tight around him like a security blanket, for both of their sakes. He hurriedly came to Toni's side, trying not to look like he was hiding behind her, but neither female acknowledged him until a servant came and presented Stephen with a glowing pink orb made of some stone that had the same texture as marble, which he took carefully so as not to drop it with his shaking hands. Toni nodded at the queen with her fake polite smile that she wore as she tore down business rivals and arrogant politicians alike, tearing another snarl from the queen.

"Thank you kindly. We'll be taking our leave now." With that, Toni sent Stephen a look that had him hurrying after her almost like a duckling does after its mother and he wasn't even all that ashamed at the comparison. He deserved it for how stupid he had been.

No one moved to stop them, letting them briskly walk to the open portal. He tried to be a gentleman and let Toni step through first, but a flash of blue in her eyes combined with arched eyebrows had him all but jumping through. He could tell he was already in some deep shit, better not make it worse by pissing her off now. Wong closed the portal as soon as the pilot of Iron Maiden was through, which Stephen was immensely grateful for. If he could, he would like to _never_ return to that place _ever_ again. He had the orb that represented the alliance, so he doubted he will have to, at least not for a very long time. He _hoped_.

The clearing of a throat had him stiffening in dread, turning with a sheepish expression on his face to face his completely unimpressed girlfriend. "Toni, I am _so_ sorry you had to come and get me but thank you-" He shut up when she put up a hand to signal as much, gulping. She took a deep breath and let out a long, drawn out sigh, eyes closed as though meditating. When they opened again, they were calm and Stephen shifted uneasily.

"Why didn't you listen to Wong and just take me with you in the first place?"

The ex neurosurgeon sent his supposedly best friend a look, feeling betrayed that Wong would rat him out like this. Then again, he probably _had_ to because he had called her for _help_ when Stephen didn't return within the first Earth hour. It really shouldn't have lasted longer than that. Of course Wong called for help. But why did he have to go get Toni of all people? Not that Stephen doubted she could take care of herself and all. She was Iron Maiden, not some delicate flower that needed to be put under a glass bell, despite all the hardships she'd had in her life. But it was the doctor in him that insisted she should have gotten more rest after the last couple of weeks.

He sighed, looking at her with apologetic eyes. "I just wanted you to get the rest you deserved after dealing with those asshats as of late. I just didn't want to intrude on your moment to relax and sleep. I'm sorry."

Her expression turned gentle and her eyes became warm, so he must have said _something_ right, which is why he was perfectly content to completely ignore the way Wong was gawking at him. The Cloak of Levitation even patted his cheek in approval. Toni sighed and gave him a fondly exasperated look. "No more going off gallivanting through dimensions without me, okay."

"Okay," the doctor readily agreed with a hurried nod, surprised to have gotten off so lightly. Didn't girlfriends usually gave men hell if they screwed up? Apologies usually only lessened the punishment, not completely eradicate it. Unless having Toni with him on missions was supposed to be a punishment, which he really didn't understand. Well, it's not like they're really a _normal_ couple so maybe the usual dynamics don't apply for them? It was probably for the best. They were never good with rules, either of them. They'd probably just be considered a _strange_ couple. Hm, Antonia Strange. Not bad. A train of thought to return to at a later date, when he wasn't getting in front of himself.

"I mean it."

"Whatever you say, darling."

Toni narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking one hip. "I'm serious. I want to hear you say it. I want you to promise me, to give me your _word_ that you won't pull a stunt like this again. That you'll call for help, if not me then at least some of your sorcerers. I'm sure you can spare _someone_ and if not, _I_ will always come. Okay?"

"Okay." Stephen smiled, coming closer to the woman and wrapping his arms around her.

"Promise me." Toni insisted and Stephen complied, taking one of her hands, interlocking their fingers with her help, since he really didn't have the coordination to do it elegantly, and placed their joined hands to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.

"I solemnly swear on my magic and my title of Sorcerer Supreme," he lowered their hands and held them against his chest, watching her eyes widen in surprise. "And my heart, that I will call for backup, preferably you, when going to another dimension." He chuckled as she gasped when his magic tied around their joined hands like twin bracelets, tying him to his promise to her, before it disappeared. "There. I can't give you a more binding oath."

"This isn't going to come and bite you in the but, is it?"

"Only if he breaks the promise." Wong said, interrupting their moment, his famous resting bitch face on. He opened a portal to what Stephen easily recognized to be the library in Kamar-Taj and stepped through, turning to face the couple. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my shift in the Sanctum is done. Ms Stark." With a nod to Toni and an annoyed look shot Stephen's way, Wong closed the portal, leaving the Sorcerer Supreme and Iron Maiden alone.

"I think he likes you."

"No shit, Sherlock."


	6. Chapter 6

The Cloak of Levitation loved Toni. It simply _adored_ her. It had no such affection as it did for her for anyone else but its chosen master, although him it liked to prank. Antonia 'Toni' Stark, though, as far as the Cloak was concerned, was the best thing to have graced the face of the Earth since it had gained sentience, quite a few centuries back. Not that its master didn't agree. Doctor Stephen Strange, the lovesick fool that he had turned into since their last date, when they had kissed, fully agreed and thought his beautiful girlfriend to be the best thing since sex, as the saying sometimes goes. Both ancient artifact and sorcerer practically worshiped the ground the badass woman walked on.

The Cloak's admiration had only grown after the scorpion-like dimension incident.

It helped that they had started seeing more of each other. Toni had managed to make sure the Rogues, if their pardons ever got through, won't be coming back as a part of the main roster and will only be called upon when the New Avengers are in over their heads - a very unlikely occurrence, but oh well. Better be safe than sorry - or if there was a major threat like in New York, a few years back, when all hands on deck are preferred to minimize the damage and death and injured rate. Not that the now Rogue Avengers were exactly good in that department since Iron Maiden's temporary retirement after the Sokovia incident, but it was beyond Toni's hands to _completely_ cut them out of the Avengers Initiative, even if Fury agreed with her on keeping them out as much as possible, since the president wanted them back. A good part of the world had made it clear they wanted the Rogues' heads on a silver platter, mostly Romanoff's, Rogers' and Maximoff's. No one cared about Lang, Wilson and Barton and Wakanda was protecting Barnes but had no plans of letting him leave their borders until the Winter Soldier program was completely removed, a feat both Stephen and Toni knew would be impossible without Toni's BARF, which she refused to give to Wakanda. They wanted to keep Barnes? All the better for her mental health. She may have recognized that it was not his fault, but Stephen wanted her as far away from the man as he could keep her. It was best to let the past stay in the past and focus on the future.

Toni wholeheartedly agreed, snuggling back into his side when he had said it during a silly movie marathon date.

Their dates were simple and yet absolutely perfect for them. Just quiet nights together or excursions all around the world and the multiverse, getting to know each other and used to the sheer depth of their feelings. Neither had ever been in _this_ serious a relationship. It came close, with Christine for Stephen and Rogers for Toni, but Stephen and Christine had been too many times on again and off again and had never made it work, never managed to make it last, while Rogers and Toni were completely incompatible, despite nearly getting married. Stephen didn't want to be thankful to Rogers for anything, but he _was_ grateful to the man for fucking up so _spectacularly_ that Stephen had the chance to meet what may as well have been his soulmate, if those really exist.

Stephen smiled as he watched the Cloak join their little snuggle fest, draping over them like a blanket. The Cloak didn't really like a lot of people. It tolerated Wong and the other sorcerers but it had no patience for anyone else that interacted with the Sorcerer Supreme. It didn't show it, of course, not visibly for others but Stephen felt the way it pressed harder into his back or became a bit tighter around his shoulders, possessive. He never called it out on it, figuring it had every right with what he put it through, ever since Dormammu to this day. It's not like he didn't _enjoy_ the way it was acting. The Cloak's overprotectiveness gave him a peace of mind that he will never admit to out loud, especially not somewhere where others can hear. It was his comfort, knowing his dear companion always had his back. He, in turn, became protective and possessive if it, too. He wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. Contrary to the Ancient One's words, the Cloak of Levitation is not at all fickle. Its loyalty to its chosen master was absolute.

Which had worried him, at first, when he and Toni started their relationship. Not that Toni and the Cloak hadn't met officially before then - he'd made sure to introduce them from the day Stark saved them from Mordo and had been pleasantly surprised to see the woman treat the red magical cloth as a person and not a thing - but Toni had been only a friend, and a secret crush. She hadn't been intruding on the Cloak's claim over Stephen, she hadn't been a nearly as frequent company as she was to become. Toni's presence in his life was about to change and he wasn't sure how that would affect his connection with the Cloak, so he had worried the Cloak might lash out, despite it seemingly adoring Toni from when they first met. It could so easily change its stance where the woman was concerned and Stephen didn't want the two of them, so important to him in their own way, to be at odds with each other. Not that he was ready to give up either of them, even if they clashed, too selfish to let go of the two things that were _finally_ going good for him.

Thankfully, he never had to do that.

Toni had always treated the Cloak as a person, which made the Cloak fond and protective of the woman since day one. But upon becoming Stephen's girlfriend, she allowed herself more liberties, playing pranks on Stephen and asking his loyal artifact for assistance, which it all too often obliged, inviting it in the games of catch she had with her bots in the lab, calling it to be her blanket when she wanted a nap against Stephen's shoulder and so on and so fort. It was endearing, to say the least, to see how his Cloak was as impatient to see his girlfriend as Stephen was. He often teased the two that he wasn't sure if he should be jealous and the Cloak would dip Toni like a pro and she'd make a fake, dramatic swooning pose in response, eliciting giggles and laughter if they had an audience, especially Toni's pseudo sons. Then the two would drag Stephen to the nearest sitting surface or the cloak would simply fall into its place on his shoulder and lift him off the ground while Toni crawled into his lap and the two of them would cuddle the Sorcerer Supreme, who would fake grumble. It usually got them 'Aww!'s from Carol, Pepper and Christine, sometimes even from Hope, and gagging noises from Rhodey and Harley. Happy and Vision would just grin and smile respectfully while Peter would be taking both pictures and videos with a shit-eating grin and post it on the Internet for all to see.

Rogers as Toni's ex was forgotten within the third week of their dating and the everyone was abandoning 'Stoni' for the new ship, StrangeIron or IronStrange, depending on who you ask. Why people insisted on making up these names for celebrity couples, Stephen will never understand, but he appreciated when he saw the blinding smiles Toni has when she reads the posts people put of them or just scrolls through Peter's social media pages.

Then, after a while, Toni took it one step further and Stephen walked in one day on his girlfriend talking with the Cloak and alternately calling it Cloaky and Levi. When asked, she said she figured it deserved to have its own _personal_ name as opposed to simply being referred to as 'the Cloak' or its full name, 'the Cloak of Levitation'. It was a person in its own right and definitely intelligent and sentient enough to be classified as an MI.

"MI?" The former surgeon had asked, both amused and bemused by his girlfriend's antics. The Cloak at least looked excited to get a name. That in itself was adorable but also a good point on Toni's part. He was kind of ashamed to not have thought it up himself.

"Magical Intelligence, like an AI, only it's not technology, but magic." Figures that's where Toni's treatment of the Cloak, erm Levi - there was _no way_ he was calling it _Cloaky_ of all things. She, better than anyone, understood a non-living being's intelligence that was created rather than born. It made sense for her to extend her AIs' treatment to Levi, too. And Levi sounded good for the Cloak.

Still, Stephen had grinned and couldn't help but tease her. "Are you admitting magic is separate from science?"

Toni had thrown a pillow at his face and Levi hadn't bothered to stop it from hitting him, which he had known was the beginning of the end for him as it was clearly taking her side. "No, you jerk! I'm trying to say Levi's a sentient being and you're trying to prove a point?! Gosh, you're such an asshole, Strange!"

"Your asshole, douchebag," had been his response and the end of that discussion, the two instead focusing on why it should be Levi as opposed to Cloaky. It was an interesting afternoon, without a doubt.

Wong was not at all impressed when Stephen insisted he call the Cloak of Levitation Levi, but even he got into doing it after a while.

Wong was another relief point for Stephen. He and Toni got along like a house on fire, which was both a good thing and a bad thing, as far as Stephen was concerned. The good thing was because Wong was Stephen's friend and the younger man appreciated his input and respected his opinion. Wong had been through a lot with him and his approval of Toni as Stephen's girlfriend put his mind at ease. He had feared Wong would disapprove on the account of Stephen being the Sorcerer Supreme and Toni being a distraction, but Wong was of a completely different opinion, saying Stark was what made Stephen even better at his job because he saw how hard Toni worked and wanted to be worthy of her so he worked even harder than he usually did. Not to mention that Toni kept in line his usual self-sacrificial tendencies because he _refused_ to leave her alone. He _had_ promised, after all.

The bad thing about them getting along so well was that they usually teamed up against Stephen, teasing him relentlessly and taking great joy in sharing embarrassing stories. Stephen had not even realized Toni still remembered how completely in awe he had been of her the very first time they had met until he walked in on her and Wong gossiping about him after a grueling training session with the apprentices who wanted to reach the level of Masters of Mystic Arts. But it still warmed his heart to see Toni needling at Wong even more persistently than Stephen himself does, just to try and get a laugh out of the usually stoic librarian. Then again, Toni had made it a _lot_ easier for herself when she one day showed Wong a place to portal them to and introduced the two sorcerers, her two pseudo sons and Vision to none other than Beyoncé. Then Rihanna. And then Taylor Swift, Peter's favorite female singer and then Thousand Foot Crutch, Harley's favorite band. Wong's freak-out at meeting Beyoncé was almost as funny as Peter's and Harley's was at meeting _any_ celebrities at all. Still, Toni had bragged that all of their's meeting with _her_ had left a bigger impression. Then again, she _is_ the one and only Toni Stark. She has that effect on people and she's pretty smug about it sometimes, too.

Wong and Toni really got along _spectacularly_. The genius could ask the most intriguing questions that no one has ever bothered asking before, prompting Wong to search the library for answers. Sometimes, they parted ways before Wong finds the answer and they continue their debate the instant they see each other next, usually prompting a curious crowd to gather around them and listen as the two poked holes in each other's ideas and solutions. It was amazing how many of these conversations, be they with Wong, Stephen or any of the older Masters of the Mystic Arts ended in Toni's favor. For one, she had a fresh view and didn't take anything for granted that a trained sorcerer might, so she noticed things most forget about, found solutions where people didn't even think to look for them and gave ideas that were, to her, obvious because she thinks in completely other terms than sorcerers do. For another, she had an incredible scientific mind, versed far better in way more fields of science than anyone who has ever set foot in Kamar-Taj, enabling her to understand things and explain them in her own scientific terms. Apparently, some of the things Stephen had tried to rationalize with more complex definitions were based on, well, the more basic ones, ones you learn in middle or high school. It frustrated many people that she actually _had_ scientific explanations for quite a few feats of magic sorcerers first learn to do when they come to Kamar-Taj. She never lords it over them, instead choosing to simplify it as much as each individual needed it, bringing it closer to them and helping them understand. It helped quite a few people master quite a few spells, now that they understood the principles behind the laws of physics that _do_ apply to them.

Yes, Toni did admit that magic had its own laws to operate within, but she insisted on calling it a higher form of science that humans haven't yet quite discovered. She didn't pretend she knew all the answers in the world but she _did_ promise she will try to find them. To Toni, there was nothing so sacred as knowledge, except life, and she stood for it to be available to all and that people should be taught how to properly use it.

Stephen thinks the Ancient One would have liked her.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Toni's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked down at the relaxed engineer leaning against him, eyes still focused on the movie they were watching. Peter had recommended that they watch a marathon of Jurassic Park movies because the new Jurassic Park film that was coming out soon was supposed to be _awesome_ and Peter and Harley _really_ wanted to go, so Toni and Stephen were taking them since May and Harley's mom couldn't due to their jobs. Toni, not one to disappoint her pseudo sons, had planted Stephen on the couch and snuggled up to him, preventing him from leaving even if he wanted to. Not that he did. It had been a busy day but the night promised to be peaceful enough for him to relax with his girlfriend.

"Nothing much. Just how well you are taking to having so much magic in your life when you always say you hate it."

Toni looked up at him at that, one eyebrow lifted high. "I may not like magic all that much, but I can't hate the _people_ who use it if they're not using it for something sinister. You guys aren't exactly like Maximoff and Loki, although I think Rocks of Ages isn't nearly as bad as Maximoff is." At _his_ arched eyebrow, Toni shrugged. "Call it a hunch."

"Uh huh." There was something there, but nothing important enough for Stephen to interrupt their peaceful night. "So, what do you think? Will Harley and Peter try to convince me to revive some dinosaurs or are we safe?"

The grin Toni shot his way actually made him somewhat nervous. "Oh, honey. What makes you think _they_ will be the one convincing you?" She said as she dragged a finger along his jawline.

Stephen gulped.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut!

Toni was not so surprised as one may think when Stephen led her into his private rooms at Kamar-Taj. This has been a long time in coming and they were both eager to finally do the dirty deed, the sexual tension having been almost unbearable between them the last few days that Rhodey, her overprotective honey-bear, actually snapped at her to just do it already because it was driving _him_ insane. Although Toni had her suspicions it had more to do with his not so little crush on Major Carol Danvers than the tension between her and her boyfriend. Not that the tension really _wasn't_ unbearable. It was driving her nuts as she had never withheld sex this long, and not just in a relationship, but in general. Even after Afghanistan, she'd had the occasional one night stand. The longest she'd went without sex before this was when she was slowly dying of palladium poisoning, and that was only a few months.

She hadn't had sex since a few weeks before the Avengers Civil War, _fourteen months ago_. She was rather eager for it to start and Stephen had practically been living as a monk since his accident almost two years ago.

They were both eager.

She grunted as he pushed her against the door, their lips all but glued to each others' as they made out, her hands in his hair and his holding her waist, grinding their lower halves against each other, their breathing hard and excited. They were pressed together from ankle to chest with his leg between her thighs, hands holding on to each other, touching everywhere they could reach, chasing pleasure together while their tongues explored each other's mouths. Toni pushed away from the door after a few minutes of this and insistently kept pushing until they reached Strange's bed, the both of them shedding clothes on the way with clever fingers and a not so appropriate use of magic. She shoved him down and climbed in his lap as soon as he was seated, drawing away for a breath before she started nibbling at his jaw. Stephen, in turn, started kneading her ass, something which didn't surprise Toni one bit. Not only had he told her she had a 'pretty ass', but she knew from past experiences that it was practically like a magnet for men if she deigned to invite them into her bed. Or even if she didn't, they all wanted to grope a feel. Pigs. And to think that was how she and Stephen met, him saving her from said pigs.

It took them quite a while to hook up since that first meeting, didn't it? It didn't matter. They were finally together now and they will _finally_ relieve some of that sexual tension. This was the slowest relationship Toni had ever been in, the longest she had waited to have sex with someone. Even the prude, Rogers, had been quick to jump to, when they were starting their relationship. They did it on their first date. You couldn't even blame it on being a life-affirming experience after a horrible, dangerous battle, not that this was that, either. And it wasn't because of some declaration of love, either. They had simply had needs to address to and since they were already kind of dating anyway, why not, right? And sure, Rogers was a long-lasting relationship, yeah, but their's had never been a good or healthy one. Honestly? Toni was _glad_ it was over, even if it had caused her so much heartache, metaphorical and literal.

It gave her the chance to try with Stephen now and she could already tell just how much better _she_ felt around the doctor. And she didn't mean just what he was currently doing with his tongue against her nipples, but in general. With Stephen, Toni felt truly appreciated and loved and welcomed and _accepted_. Rogers had never really quite accepted who she was and what Toni represented - the future. He'd always been low key resentful to have woken up in the twenty first century and no one blamed him, seeing how much he lost between falling asleep and waking up, but he has been part of the here and now for a few years now. He's had time to adjust, to accept the facts, ugly as they might be. He could have at the very least learned to tolerate his new life instead of always moping about the forties. It seemed like a waste of life to Toni, but she never said it. What bothered her, though, was that Steve had always wanted to push Toni into a mold she just couldn't fit and he would be disappointed and look at her in this certain way that made her skin crawl. It wasn't Toni's fault that she alone was far bigger than Steve's whole world that he was used to. Of course she couldn't fit into the mold of how he perceived women in the past! He never learned to accept that Toni was the _future_ and had no place in the past. Rogers wouldn't even bother to try and meet her half way, in the present, stubbornly burying his head in the sand, the past, instead of looking towards the light of the future. Sure, Toni knew you should never forget about the past nor could you avoid it - it was a shadow and a shackle, be it in a positive or a negative way - but the past must _never_ be allowed to hinder the present, let alone the _future_. It's what caused many of their arguments.

Stephen didn't try to mold her into something else. Toni had been gob-smacked when Christine once had to put the man under some strong painkillers after a fight that they had all gotten out with quite a few injuries. Toni had Extremis to thank for that her broken arm healed in two days, but not even magic could replace a dislocated shoulder and sprained ankle. While he was under and Christine was aligning the bones, Stephen had all but recited poetics about how _perfect_ Toni was, from her greatest flaws to her caring heart. Rhodey had spent _hours_ teasing her about it until Harley and Peter, bless those kids, rescued her, the blond digging into Rhodey while Peter dragged her into the lab for a few hours. Harley had joined them later, after he managed to work up a visible blush on Rhodey's dark cheeks, and they had never spoken of it again. Still, Toni knew Christine took great pleasure in embarrassing Stephen about it when he came down from his high. But Stephen never took his words back, instead sometimes murmuring them into Toni's ear when they happen to fall asleep while watching a movie or just cuddling on the couch and sometimes saying them outright to her face. If Stark hadn't seen and heard him acting like this several times on completely different occasions already, she would have doubted his sincerity.

But Stephen genuinely wanted _her_ , not just Iron Maiden, not just the rich girl Toni Stark, _her_. The inventor, the scientist, the hero, the philanthropist, the sarcastic dick, the arrogant ass, the dumb genius, the crazy pseudo mother of two awesome teenagers, the businesswoman, the badass, the jerk, the douchebag, the brat, the workaholic, the _Avenger_. He wanted Toni Stark and all that that included. It's what made him so easy to lo-

She shook her head, not allowing herself to think those words just yet, lest she say them before she was ready. They had time. They had _plenty_ of time. They can take it as slow as they've been taking the rest of their relationship.

Toni arched as a finger brushed against the lips of her womanhood, startled out of her thoughts, now completely focused on what her soon to be lover was doing. She looked into a wicked green-gray-blue eyed gaze and frowned at the man, even as she let him continue, but not before she brushed a finger against his nipple in revenge. The sharp breath that was the result was all too satisfying, at least until Stephen suddenly flipped them over, now looming over her and in between her legs, both their sex in contact, which drew shivers from them both. Toni was startled to see the doctor's eyes nearly black with lust as he rubbed gently against her entrance, never having seen him out of his steely control. He looked wrecked, what with his flushed cheeks, kiss-bruised lips, slightly labored breathing and tussled hair. Toni imagined she was no better, spread out on the man's sheets in such a lewd display. Maybe they've waited too long, but it only made this moment all the sweater.

Stark reached for her boyfriend, drawing her into her arms and into a toe-curling kiss that had them both moaning even before Stephen moved. They were both great multitaskers, proven by how well their kiss held up even as Stephen slowly entered her, never rushing for fear of hurting her. And Toni was okay with that. It's been quite a while and she enjoyed the care he showed. It made her feel special in a way rare few in her life had ever managed. It was interesting, how different her relationship with Stephen was compared to all the other men in her life. She guessed most of said men had gotten used to her just getting up and fixing things, even after a whole city fell on her head. She never showed weakness, so why should they presume otherwise, right? Even Rhodey had come to rely on her seeming resistance to death and had taken it for granted, until he learned that Toni had been battling with palladium poisoning slowly killing her and then her needing Extremis to survive the aftermath of Siberia.

Stephen didn't exactly treat her like fragile glass, he knew she was made of iron, but he could see the fractures and metal fatigue that Toni's been hiding from everyone for the past two decades of her life. He could see them because his accident had made him as world-weary as she was and his fight with Dormammu had given him _years upon years_ of experience no mortal human should have ever experienced. They fit in a way no one else could. They were compatible. Birds of a feather, two of a kind. If Toni was so inclined to believe in such things, she'd say they were soulmates, if those even existed. All she knew is that they had a deep understanding for each other. So deep that they trusted each other with their most vulnerable spots, with their scars...

With their hearts.

It was easy to lose herself in Stephen, to forget the world outside of this little, old room even existed. It was an experience not even the strongest drug could induce. Toni had always been aware of the world, of the ways how she could make it _better_. Usually, she didn't feel the weight of it on her shoulders, but the Civil War almost two years ago had left her feeling every milligram of it. It had left her weary and wary, struggling to hold it all up, all on her own, while trying to get Rhodey back on his legs and back in the air again and to help Vision get over his guilt and heartbreak and to find himself in the world. Then came Stephen and then the New Avengers and suddenly she wasn't carrying the weight alone anymore. They, Rhodey, Vision, Peter, Harley, Pepper and Happy were happy to take some weight off of her shoulders and Toni could stand up straight again, not even having realized that she had started buckling and bending and _breaking_ until she started rebuilding herself. The weight was still on her shoulders, she was still the lone Atlas that was its main pillar, but she now had supporting pillars and she knew they'll catch her if she buckled. They didn't take away the awareness of the world or the worries she had to take care of, but they _helped_ make it manageable again.

Stephen, though, now made her, for just this short while, feel like she _wanted_ to forget the world and she _could,_ just for this little short while. Just for a few minutes, she could be selfish and want something good for _herself_. Oh, she'll be focused on the world again soon enough, but for tonight, she just wanted to _feel_ , she just wanted it to be only Stephen and her. No sorcerers or Avengers or Rogues or villains or soldiers or politicians or civilians or aliens and other dimensions. Just the two of them, in their own little world, perfect in its serenity and yet so fragile a bubble that it can't possibly last. Just for a little while.

This was the best she felt since her parents died.

She finally felt as though she had some peace.

Their orgasms were approaching quickly, Toni could tell, judging by how she was clutching at the member in her and how Stephen's thrusts were getting more and more frantic, less rhythmic, less refined. She dragged him down into a long, wet kiss full of passion and that one emotion she still didn't dare name and it was apparently enough to send them both over the edge. They clung to each other with a cry of their names, whole bodies shaking with tremors as they tried to regain their breaths and come down from their high. After a while, Stephen slowly and carefully pulled out, collapsing beside her onto his back, still panting as hard as she was but hey, at least she has an excuse in her heart and lung condition after all the shit they've been put through! It made her immensely smug that she had managed to so utterly destroy Strange's composure. She turned to him and laid her head on his still having chest, running fingers in feather-like, barely there patterns over his abs, enjoying how the muscles twitched and shivered under her touch.

"That was definitely worth the wait."

"I would hope so," Stephen said with a chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist while using the other to magically pull the covers from underneath them so they can be used as the blanket they were meant to be. Seeing as they didn't stir her one inch, Toni was impressed. She wanted to tease Stephen about him having a good birthday party magician career but just didn't have it in her to ruin the moment. There will be plenty of time to tease him about it later. "By the Vishanti, Toni, you're going to be the death of me."

The exclamation surprised her and she looked up, arching an eyebrow. Her breathing hitched when she saw the look in his eyes and she wanted to hide. Those three words that everyone wanted to hear hung between them and Toni was _terrified_ by how quickly they climbed into her throat and _begged_ to be let out. With Rogers, it had taken nearly two years of dating for her to even entertain the idea that she might feel that way towards him, but with Stephen it was like an express train despite how slowly they'd been taking their relationship. With that wonderful emotion shinning through his eyes, Toni felt her own tearing up as she brought a hand up to cup his face. "Stephen, I-" But her voice gave out on her and she couldn't say another word.

But she apparently didn't need to.

"I know," her boyfriend reassured her, kissing the top of her head. "I know, Toni. You don't have to say it. Your eyes give you away."

And he didn't need to say it, either, and they both knew it. So Toni just nodded and settled for a good night's sleep, pressing as close to Stephen as she could.

They might not be ready just yet to say the words, but that didn't mean they didn't apply.

Sometimes, some things just don't need to be said and that was for the best.

Toni fell asleep knowing, without a doubt, that she was loved.


	8. Chapter 8

Stark had fully expected the teasing when it came so she was ready for it. Stephen, though, was not. He had placed a silencing spell on his room last night and had hoped no one had seen them heading to his room or that no one's mind would go to the gutter if they had, but he had _seriously_ underestimated the power of gossip, especially in a place like Kamar-Taj where most people focused on studying and spent very little time watching TV or other such methods of entertainment. Maybe it was because, while rather well known, he had never been quite as famous and in the spotlight like Toni or maybe it was because he hadn't expected Levi to be the one to alert the whole of Kamar-Taj things were getting heated, but the result was the same and he had been fairly stunned to end up with the entirety of Kamar-Taj handing over the money they owed each other, bemoaning it or celebrating that they had finally gotten their heads out of their asses and did something about the sexual tension.

It was definitely entertaining to Toni to watch him drill them into the ground as retaliation for poking their noses into his business. Which was kind of hot.

Definitely worth the teasing.

Poor Wong, though. He had thought Toni to be as easy a target as Stephen was. He sure did learn his lesson and she was pretty sure Stephen more than appreciated the results, since he had taken pictures with his phone as revenge for when Wong had taken pictures of his silly grin after their first kiss. A gapping Wong was definitely a rarity and Toni had insisted that he share the picture with her. He had gladly agreed, ignoring the glares Wong was sending their way.

Definitely worth the teasing.

When they eventually got back to the States, they had to suffer through another round of bets won and lost and another round of teasing, but dealing with her friends was a lot easier than shutting up sorcerers with grueling training, like Stephen had done. They all had their own crushes, which was more than enough teasing material for Toni to shut them all up. But that wasn't enough for her, oh no.

She started playing matchmaker and Rhodey and Carol were her first victims. They were actually the easy ones. They'd both been giving each other lovey-dovey looks far longer than Toni and Stephen had been pinning after each other. She didn't exactly need to put too much effort into it. She tricked them on to a date when she requested they both be her plus one - without the other knowing, of course - because Stephen couldn't as he was in a different dimension - different dimension meaning the bedroom, waiting for her to come back - and she didn't want to be alone and get her poor, genius brain bored to death by annoying politicians, investors and would be playboys. She and Stephen simply settled in the living room and watched as the two figured out they were doped and on a date, refusing to answer the phone no matter how many times Rhodey called.

In the end, the two resigned themselves to their fate and decided to just roll with it, dancing and sampling fine wine and finger food, just having a good time in general - it was awesome watching Carol stare down an investor until the guy fucked off all the while chatting with Rhodes as they danced, her hands flickering with power only a little bit in warning to make her point clear - and ending the night with the promise of another, _normal_ date. One they _both_ knew they would be going on.

Toni ended up planning that one, too, and Rhodey still owes her for it.

Hooking him up with Carol was the best thing she ever did.

Pepper and Happy ... She had to be a lot more subtle with them. Virginia Potts was far too wise to her ways and Harold Hogan had seen some of her matchmaking planes in action before. She decided to enlist her oblivious boyfriend's help in this endeavor. A little of bibbidi bobbidi boo here, a little abracadabra there and she managed to set them up on a couple of completely casual, completely incognito dates that not even they noticed they were on a date until they one day simply found themselves holding hands.

Toni knew she was insufferably smug for weeks.

Peter was almost painfully hard. The kid was so shy and his new crush, Michaella Jones or MJ as she insisted to be called, was anything but and _very_ sharp. A very tricky combination. She had to be both subtle and completely unsubtle in order to get it across both their thick skulls that they liked each other. She should also probably tell Peter that MJ had figured out his alter ego, too, but she figured that could be an interesting first date conversation. Yes, Ton is _that_ cruel when she wanted to be. Fear her, world, for she is your greatest super villain, wa ha ha ha ha! But, anyway, Toni decided for the easiest possible approach. She got the kids tickets for a concert, told MJ the truth and left Peter to figure it out on his own. The results were instantaneous, the day after the concert.

Toni three, her friends zero.

Harley was the _really_ tricky one. He was wise to Toni's mischief and was rather mischievous himself. She had to be careful with him lest he decide to take revenge later. It also didn't help that he had no love interests at the moment, but Toni knew how to fix that. Although she will admit that him meeting Shuri when she came with T'Challa to the US for a meeting regarding the Rogues pardons was not her doing, it provided her with an opportunity to help him _develop_ a crush. Not that he needed help there. And Shuri was assertive enough to ask _him_ out on a date, much to her brother's and the Dora Milaje's displeasure, though they made no move to stop her. Toni decided her job with Harley was done after she managed to embarrass him so much he was as red as her armor after he got home from the date. She also loved that she got to rub it in T'Challa's face without actually doing it - diplomatic relations and all that shit. He's been the cause of her some more vicious migraines ever since he proposed the pardons for Rogers and his marry band of idiots.

Wong, she left in Stephen's hands. Though that dressing down she gave him ought to keep the Chinese sorcerer in check. She heard Kamar-Taj was taking bets who'll win their next 'bitching fest'. Toni hoped they catch her in _that_ time of the month. She might demolish Wong's manhood ...

Maybe not the best idea. Oh well.

Her companion for the morning coffee and breakfast at one of the cheap, greasy dinners, one Christine Palmer, nearly choked on her beagle at that one, laughter coming out in short snorts in order to avoid it. Toni just grinned. She and Dr Palmer had started off uneasily, seeing as she was Stephen's ex and Toni was his current girlfriend and they were pretty serious, too. Christine said she understood, that she had accepted that she and Strange were over and were just friends, that she understood why Toni could be what she couldn't.

"You're so much alike," she had told Toni that day in the hospital, after Strange had to drink some pain medicine that would knock out a horse just so he would let the stitches settle a little before he started healing the wound with magic.

"You can protect yourself without him," Christine said the next time they met, when displays of affection were already regular between the two geniuses.

"You're a survivor, just like him. He lost the people closest to him in relatively rapid succession. He needs someone who won't disappear so easily. Who better than Toni Stark, Iron Maiden, the one woman the world had tried to beat down but not even aliens could manage to do it?" She'd said a few days before they left for Kamar-Taj. "He needs someone who can understand him, who can challenge him, who won't pity him for his scars. Who better than you?"

The good doctor and Toni had become friends, somehow, between that first conversation and the first donation Toni made for Dr Palmer's research. They met up twice a week for morning coffee - and breakfast; it would seem even Christine knew about Toni's habit of forgetting to eat and was contributing to the general efforts of fixing that - and just talked. Christine would tell Toni about the hospital, Stark would talk about her R&D department, Palmer would complain about some patient, Toni would complain about a politician or business partner. Sometimes, Christine would use Toni as a sounding board for her medical research, knowing the genius had _some_ knowledge about it and trusting her to have good suggestions, other times Toni would talk about her projects or her suits. It usually flew right over Christine's head, but Toni always slowed down and explained as best as she could. There were rare few that understood how the Iron Maiden worked. Even Shuri admitted that she'd need 'a peek under the hood' to understand how Toni packed so much weaponry in her suits. It was still fun. Explaining a problem helped Toni already start figuring out how to fix it, to improve that which already worked.

There were times when they talked about Stephen, laughing at all the blunders he made and pretended never happened, if not for those who had witnessed them.

"One time, when these interns were doing some more menial work, Stephen did this," or "Just yesterday, Wong told me he caught Stephen with pink skin because of this spell that misfired," or "I swear he can be so aggravating! Like this one time," or "He's driving me _insane_! Apparently, it's perfectly fine to sacrifice his life for some spell! He has no self-preservation skills and a martyr complex and this is coming from _me_." They could go on like that for _hours_ , complaining and joking and bemoaning about their lives, just using the chance to vent while enjoying good coffee, delicious pastries and a little peace and quiet. Christine was the only one besides Stephen - and Levi and FRIDAY - who she told about her matchmaking plan, although she didn't involve the doctor. She had a stressful job and very little free time to waste it on Toni's scheme, or so Toni insisted. Christine at least got relatively regular updates about her plans and progress.

Which was why she was trying so hard not to choke or laugh too loud in a public dinner. "Oh my god!" She giggled when she finally swallowed her food, eyes watering. "Poor Peter and Harley! Did you _have_ to tease them so much?"

"It was absolutely _necessary_." Toni said with complete seriousness. "You have _no_ idea how much they teased me and Stephen. They deserved it. Besides," she shrugged, finishing off her second cup and putting it away. "It's good character building. My teasing is good natured. Not everyone's will be in their life. Now, Harley's a sarcastic dick that will have no problem standing up for himself and flipping the principle at the same time, but Peter's too nice. Sure, he's a sarcastic dick, too, but he always apologizes for his quips. He's a pushover. Thankfully, he now has Harley and MJ to look after him and god help anyone who says anything bad about him in Shuri's presence. I think she wants to adopt him but no _way_ am I letting that happen. Peter is _my_ protégé."

"Not that he would _want_ to be whisked away," the other woman reasons, rolling her neck and shoulders. "That boy _adores_ you. You're practically his mother figure."

"He has May for that."

Christine snorts. "He calls her ' _aunt_ May'. He slipped a few times and called you _mom_. I think it's pretty obvious who's his mother figure. Besides, you make such a good mother. He and Harley are lucky, as is Vision."

Toni tried not to wince at the turn of the conversation. It still hurt, the baby she had lost and the inability to have more. When she had been with Rogers and she had learned that she'll have a baby with the man she loved, she had thought _'This is it. My happy ever after.'_ Of course, that's when the Civil War happened and Rogers did what he did, which had the end results that it did. She now no longer had the ability to create that happy ever after, even if she was sure she wanted to. And she _did_. With Stephen. She felt like she had wasted her only chance on Rogers. Sometimes, these days, she lay at night, unable to fall asleep, watching Stephen as he slumbered beside her and she wondered if she was being selfish for wanting to stay with him. Stephen was a great guy, if a little strange (*snort*) and he deserved all the happiness in the world after what he had been through and how he had risen from it even stronger. Toni knew the feeling. She wanted Stephen to have as happy a life as he could and she thought a family would provide him just that. She saw him sometimes, when he would cast a longing look at kids in the street or a park with their parents, and she thought he deserved to experience that, too.

(Unbeknown to her, he thought much the same for her and wanted her to be happy, hating Rogers for what he had caused.)

But she couldn't give him that. The closest to a family, to kids that she had was her AIs and she had lost one of them, too. DUM-E, U and Butterfingers were nearly destroyed in the collapse of her Malibu mansion and Vision was nearly crushed by Maximoff. What she had with Harley and Peter was precious to her but she also didn't want them getting too close, for their sakes. Her life wasn't normal, wasn't safe, and all her closest friends have at least _once_ nearly lost their lives. She didn't want that for a kid.

"Maybe in another life."

But Palmer just shook her head as she got up, leaving enough for her order and picking up her things. "No, Toni Stark. In _this_ life." With a smile and a wave, she left the genius to her thoughts. Toni sighed, taking out a StarkPhone she rarely ever used except when in public. She got used to just calling things up in her mind with Extremis but it sometimes drew attention to her glowing blue eyes. So she settled for using a phone for show when not surrounded by her most trusted circle.

Stark opened a picture that had been taken recently, during T'Challa's and Shuri's visit. Peter, Harley, Shuri, MJ and Ned were on the floor in front of the couch, arms thrown around each other and showing peace signs, Peter and Harley leaning on Toni's legs. On her right was Rhodey, an arm thrown around her on one side and around Carol on the other, also sporting peace signs. Beside Carol was Hope, following the same pattern, only she had an ant standing beside the couch, as if it were a pet. On the other side of the genius inventor sat Stephen, one hand around her shoulders, the other bringing one of her hands to his lips with a smirk and a wink at the camera, the arm around her shoulder sporting a hand with the same peace sign as everyone else. The Cloak was wrapped around them both, also giving its own version of the peace sign with its hem. On the sorcerer's other side sat Wong and then Christine, on the arm of the couch sat Pepper with Happy standing beside her, holding hands. Their free hands also had the peace sign. And a little behind the couch hovered Vision with DUM-E, U and Butterfingers visible between the heads of the seated people. Vision was using his hands to make a big peace sign because if he did it the normal way, it would appear as though he were putting horns or donkey ears on anyone else and ruin the photo. Even T'Challa was there, standing a little behind Hope's giant ant, a modest peace sign level with his stomach, a small upturn of his lips on his face. They all had huge grins - or smiles, in Wong's and Vision's case - and seemed to be genuinely happy. They were only missing May and Hank, who couldn't be there due to work or ... whatever it was Hank was doing these days. Maybe Maria, Coulson and Fury, too. Everett Ross, too. The Dora Milaje ... They should be in there, too, but maybe some other time.

Toni herself was in the center of the photo, surrounded by all of her dearest, most precious people. She had even placed her phone in her lap and had a holographic projection of a peace sign hovering in front of her in a reddish-purple color to include FRIDAY in the photo. She herself had her now customary peace sign - ever since Afghanistan, _always_ since Afghanistan - and the brightest smile Toni had seen on her own face since the death of her parents and Jarvis. She really wished she had JARVIS with her on days like these, for her greatest creation to see her truly happy. The closest her loyal co-pilot ever got to it was her elation at finding Starkenium to save herself. But this ... This was true. It was tender and loving and _happy_. She knew she could trust these people. She knew she was cared about, cared _for_ , that she was wanted, that she _belonged_.

This was _family_.

But she wasn't regretful that Vision was there. She was glad for him, too. He was family, her kid.

Was it really selfish to want to keep things like this? To want to keep _them_? To want it to stay like this forever? To be _happy_ like this forever? Was it so wrong to finally _belong_ somewhere? These people were misunderstood everywhere else but found a comforting familiarity with others similar to them. She wanted to keep them _safe_. What happened to her old team will _never_ happen to the New Avengers. Toni will make sure of it. These people were worth it, all of her hard work. They were her family.

 _She_ was _their_ family. Something that she had never been to the old Avengers.

She was content.

Maybe she couldn't give the type of family he deserved, but Stephen _needed_ this family right now, too. They all did, even the Wakandans, for all of their ... Wakandaness. Toni knew she needed this and she will fight until her last dying breath, until her last drop of blood, the last ounce of energy and strength left in her, to defend them.

Toni Stark was a protector and she will protect her family no matter what.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected jump into a different, very interesting universe or two! ;)

"You know, this is all _your_ fault, right?" Stephen groaned at the phrase repeated for the third time in the past half an hour. It wasn't helping his headache one bit. That damned tug had hit him harder than he ever remembered being hit before. "A normal boyfriend takes his girlfriend out for dinner, maybe a movie. Other superhero couples at least go on undercover dates or kick bad guys' asses. Some more extreme cases maybe blow shit up. But _no_ , why would we _do_ that Toni, when we can experiment hopping dimensions with a _fucking Infinity Stone_! It'll be _fun_!"

"I never said that and I don't sound like that when I talk ... Do I?" Toni snorted from where they were tied to a pillar, back to back.

"You know, when I proposed we go on a Victorian date, I was thinking more like ... going out for tea, since you like it so much, eat some biscuits, take a relaxing walk in the park on a nice, sunny day. And what do I get?" It was so obviously a rhetorical question that Stephen gulped. He hadn't thought Toni was actually that pissed. "I get a Victorian adventure with some fucker's minions because they think I'm a disguised Sherlock _fucking_ Holmes! I mean, what the _hell_ , Strange?! Do I _look_ like a guy or something? I thought the boobs were fucking _obvious_ enough!"

"Hey, it wasn't _me_ that made that blunder!" He defended, even if it came out weak and lacking his usual scathing tone, which must have caught Toni's attention as she stopped complaining. "I don't know what kind of screw-loose dimension this is, but it's the Eye of Agamotto's doing. I think the Time Stone has a sick sense of humor."

Toni was quiet for a moment before snorting. "Besides, isn't Sherlock Holmes a detective novel and a fictional character?"

" _Sherlock Holmes_ , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1887 to 1927, four novels and 56 short stories." He rattled off more out of habit than any desire to show off. Well, at least he knew he didn't have a concussion. Or too serious of a concussion, since his photographic memory was still working.

"I _know_ that, asshole. It's one of my favorite fictional books. I meant isn't he supposed to be _just_ that?"

"How should _I_ know!?" Stephen couldn't help but ask incredulously. "As far as _I_ know, Doyle might as well have been a sorcerer and traveled to another dimension at some point, met a man named Sherlock Holmes and decided to write about him!"

Toni was quiet for a moment. "Do you think that's what happened?" She asked curiously and Stephen desperately wanted to see her face. He loved that thoughtful look that accompanied that considering tone. He found it cute, as it was Toni in her element: curious and contemplating. A scientist first and foremost.

He paused, too, considering. "Don't know, but now I'm curious. We'll look into it when we get back to our dimension. And _you_ don't get to complain about getting stuck in this mess with me." He reminded her, causing her to huff. " _You're_ the one that insisted I never go 'dimension hopping' by myself ever again. You got yourself into this, not me."

"I thought it was the Time Stone?"

"I don't even know anymore."

They fell quiet for a moment, both just considering what they should do. Toni had used Extremis once and broken them out of their bonds, but she was now tied with chains and rope and a very thin wire. Sure, Extremis will easily snap through those, too, and heal any cuts the wire might cause, but Stephen had been tied directly to her. If the wire tightens around him, he won't be as lucky as Toni was. And she couldn't risk using her armor, either, for much the same reasons. Stephen would have used his magic to set them free, only he had been banged over the head with the but of a gun and had been unconscious for about ten minutes and now had a killer headache that was making it extremely hard to concentrate. Add to all of that that he hadn't been transported here with the Cloak of Levitation, which had been hovering near him and his girlfriend, the two were left pretty much defenseless until they somehow made sure the wire won't cut Stephen in half.

"What do you think they want to do with us?" Stark asked after a good ten minutes of silence, no doubt having spent that time studying the rope and how to best remove it. FRIDAY had also been left behind, much to Toni's displeasure, so she couldn't even discuss things with her baby girl and instead had to rely solely on Extremis in a time where there was no Internet. Only her connection to her suit gave her any sort of sensors and answers to some of her questions and problems.

"I'm not sure even they know," Stephen replied, his voice stronger now. He was beginning to feel better, his magic trying to chase away the pain and start healing his injury. It was one of the first medical spells he learned and was extremely glad to have mastered it now, no matter how big of a pain in the ass it had been. "They must have realized you're not Holmes and they have no idea who we actually are."

"That's both good and bad, as they might just decide to kill us. You know, cut off all of the loose ends. They are obviously a part of some criminal organization or something."

"Just our luck." He sighed, closing his eyes and trying to concentrate. Yes, he was a bit better but his head was still pounding and every attempt at focusing on his magic threatened to make him hurl. And if he started vomiting, it was quite possible he'd black out, too. "I'm really sorry, Toni. This is all my fault. I should have made sure something like this could never happen."

"It's not exactly your fault that the Infinity Stone in your necklace decided to pull us into another time and another dimension." She reasoned before pausing, her tone sounding suspicious. "Or _is_ it? How exactly did the Stone get activated, Strange?"

If it weren't for the sharp wire that could cut him up if he moved, he would have squirmed. "I was last minute checking for dimensional threats using the Eye of Agamotto just before you got to the Sanctum. It's possible that I accidentally left the Eye searching and that it registered our joking about a Victorian date as a desired destination or that it pulled us here to check for possible supernatural threats personally." He offered before shrugging as best as he could. "Or something else dragged us here. Or something. I honestly don't know anymore. Magic has a way of playing with those who use it, usually for some reason only it ca understand."

"Well, that must be troublesome."

Strange snorted. "No shit, Sherlock."

Before Toni could retort to that teasing jibe, another voice beat her to it. "How did you know I was here?" Both geniuses looked up to see two men walk out from the shadowed hallway, the shorter one drawing both their eyes and making them widen as they saw what could have seriously been a Victorian, male version of Toni Stark standing there, frowning in puzzlement at them. "How do you even know what I looked like? I've made sure to keep my identity as secret as it was possible, save for Scotland Yard, but that was unavoidable, as a consulting detective."

"Holy shit." Toni muttered behind him and Stephen desperately wanted to see her face, but was kind of distracted by the almost identical eyes to the ones he loved meeting his own. "I kind of didn't really believe it until now that I'm seeing it. Holy _shit_."

"Holmes, who are they?" The taller man with a mustache - probably Dr Watson if the shorter one was indeed Sherlock Holmes - asked, eying the woman that so greatly resembled his companion, even in her modern day clothes and the Arc Reactor shinning in her chest. Stephen could see Holmes' eyes flitting between it, the Eye of Agamotto and the clothes he was wearing. The detective was trying to figure them out but was having difficulties, probably due to never seeing people like them before. This dimension was weirder than he had initially thought.

"Why are you here?" Sherlock finally asked, still eying them up, still unsure what to make of them. "Why do you have a light emanating from your chest? Why are your clothes so ... strange?"

Toni, whose face must have hardened at the reference to the Arc Reactor, judging from her tension a moment ago, snorted. Stephen was tempted to try and reach for her hand to pinch her in retaliation. "Some ... _gentlemen_ , if you get my drift, just attacked us thinking I was, apparently, you. And we're not from around here. I'm from New York and my friend here is from Nepal. They have slightly different customs than you Brits do."

"Dear God, she even sounds as sarcastic as you! Are you _sure_ you and Mycroft don't have some long lost sister somewhere?" Watson asked, still staring incredulously at the female version of his friend.

Toni was, apparently, greatly insulted. "Excuse _you_ , pal, but I sound only like _myself_ , thank you kindly. Now, would you mind getting this wire off? It's most uncomfortable."

"She even _talks_ like you!"

Holmes hummed but thankfully took out a knife from only he knows where. "Unless Mycroft has been keeping her hidden away somewhere, it is merely a coincidence that she resembles me so. Please hold still, my dear. We will get you out of this in a yippee. Dr Watson, please be so kind to check over her friend. That head wound looks gruesome."

"No need, I'm a doctor." Stephen grumbled but let the other doctor take a look at him anyway. "Possibly a mild concussion and an ugly gash wound. I'm a bit light headed, but that is the consequence of both the hit and the blood loss, since head wounds always bleed more than the size of the wound would indicate. I'll probably need ... four to six stitches, I think. Judging by the area that stings, anyway. I haven't exactly gotten a chance to take a look in this dump. Terrible room service, let me tell you. Do you have some form of pain killers? My head is aching."

"She even has the same preference in _companionship_ , Sherlock. Are you _absolutely sure_ she's no sister of yours? Maybe your father had an affair?" Watson said after a brief pause, in which he produced some medicine Stephen didn't bother to check and gave to Strange, impressed by the sorcerer's self-diagnostic when he hadn't been able to even look at the injury, and a little unsettled that there were more people out there with Holmes' level of wit. As if Toni hadn't been enough, Stephen thought with a snort.

"Quite certain, old chap." A moment later, Stephen sighed in relief when the wire fell from around him, fluttering to the ground. "There. Now if only you could wait for another minute for me to pick the lock on this chain ... "

"No need." Stephen winced as the chains clattered to the ground as Toni simply pulled hard enough against them, Extremis helping break them not a few seconds after she started. The rope also tying them together snapped and Stephen sighed in relief, getting to his feet. He turned around to see his girlfriend for the first time in several hours and was relieved to find only some already almost completely faded bruises on her body. The wire, chains and rope had left a mark that will be gone within the hour, or maybe even sooner, seeing as her eyes were blazing with an active Extremis. The two men flinched away, reaching for some weapon or the other, and Stephen decided to cut this short.

"Well, this has been pleasant." He quickly made a few hand gestures and focused on his magic and the Time Stone. "I wish you a good day, gentlemen." A portal opened and Toni had her armor in an a second, grabbing him around the waist and they were blasting through the portal before either man could react. The sparking ring closed behind them as they landed on the other side, grunting as they crashed into a ... wall with a yellow painted smiley face that had bullet holes in it and the sound of a giggling child. That had them both groaning and had their eyes snapping towards the source of the noise.

Toni stared.

Stephen stared, too.

For before them stood a carbon copy of one Everett Ross with a giggling baby in his arms, a girl judging by her clothes, a gobsmacked expression on his face as he stared at Stephen. The man was dressed in some sweater and jeans but looked almost exactly as harrowed as Ross often did and Stephen, for the briefest of moments, wondered if they had somehow ended up intruding on the CIA agent's secret private life. But then the Ross look-alike took a deep breath and let it rip.

"SHERLOCK! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAVE A BLOODY TWIN BROTHER!" Toni and Stephen both winced at the noise but then exchanged a look when they realized, although the voice was the same, this man spoke with a genuine British accent, much to their surprise. But that shock was nothing compared to the one they got when an equally British, equally familiar voice called back in response.

"What are you talking about, John?" Stephen heard Toni gasp but he couldn't look away from a paler, dark brown almost black haired, goatee-less version of himself in a house robe, who was staring at something in an test tube and ignoring his friend's - apparently another _Dr Watson_ , which meant that the other man was _another_ Sherlock Holmes - distress. "I don't have another sibling, only Mycroft and Juros. Unless Mycroft is hiding another one in some other prison- Oh."

They even had the same _eyes_! Stephen wasn't sure whether he should freak out or be intrigued. He was honestly a bit of both. At least _these_ two appeared to be from their time, if not their dimension.

Yep, this was definitely the Time Stone's warped sense of humor. That, or the Vishanti were bored and decided to mess with him. At this point, _anything_ was possible and Stephen had really had enough. This was seriously not his day. Especially with the way Toni was sending intrigued and considering looks both his and his look-alike's way. He may be a bit ... possessive of her, especially with the way he put an arm around her and drew her flush against him as he opened a portal and swept it towards them, ignoring the alarmed shrieks from the two men. He made sure to reach out towards the sensation of their home dimension and clung to Toni as they broke several barriers between dimensions before they finally were flung through a portal and into the library of the Sanctum, where Levi was getting frantic but managed to catch them as they flew through the air before they could crash into a wall or something else.

Levi happily wrapped around them both even as Stephen reached up to cradle his head. Whatever that taller Watson had given him was wearing off and the two dimensional trips weren't helping any. Toni must have noticed his pain because she told Levi to put them down and fetch some headache medication while she steadied him and brought him to sit down in his favorite armchair. She left him for a moment, returning with a wet rag and started cleaning up the blood from his face. The Cloak returned shortly with the medication and a glass of water, which he took gladly and sighed as he handed back the glass to his constant companion. He just leaned back and enjoyed Toni's gentle ministrations, relaxing as he sped up the effects of the medicine with magic and his head started easing up.

He looked up at Toni and sighed. "I'm sorry. That was a terrible way for a date to go wrong."

The inventor surprised him with a giggle. "Are you kidding me? That was _awesome_! What girl can brag that she and her boyfriend are connected through different versions of Sherlock Holmes? Or that she nearly got a threesome with her handsome boyfriend's look-alike?"

Stephen just snorted. "I knew it was a good idea to get us out of there as soon as possible."

"Jealous?"

"Hm, almost." The woman was apparently surprised by his admission but ended up only smiling gently at him as she carefully crawled into his lap, settling against his chest with her arms around his neck. "Time for a nap?"

"You _owe_ me."

"That I do," he sighed in content, bringing his arms around her and smiling as the Cloak of Levitation wrapped around them. "Maybe we should be more careful about dimension hopping from now on."

"I don't know," she said in a teasing tone. "I'm kind of interested now if there are more strangers who look exactly like us in other dimensions."

"I thought you were more interested in finding out if Doyle was a sorcerer?"

"Touché." The genius thought for a moment before shrugging. "We'll check it out after we figure that out. We've got time."

Stephen just kissed her head. "Yes, we do." He leaned his chin against her head and closed his eyes, completely and utterly relaxed and exhausted from the strange day, despite not even five minutes having passed in their dimension. Neither noticed when they drifted off, but Wong found them just like this several hours later and just shook his head. He turned off the lights and closed the door, letting them rest and deciding to tease Stephen about it tomorrow.

At least he learned his lesson regarding Toni.


	10. Chapter 10

"You know, it is very rare that Nivadellir gets a visit from the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth," Eitri, the king of the dwarves, said by way of greeting when Doctor Stephen Strange stepped through a portal, giving him a polite nod of the head. "The Ancient One always chose to send her requests through magical messages and have her disciples fetch them once they're done. I think I can count on one hand how many times she'd been here in her long life."

Stephen smiled sadly as he recalled his mentor, but not even her loss from a couple of years ago could dampen his current good mood. "Yes, well, I am not her and this is a personal request."

"Oh?" Eitri raised an eyebrow, gesturing for Stephen to follow him as he led the human into the forge. "And what may that request be that you are seeking out the Dwarves of Nivadellir to craft this item for you?"

Strange coughed in a hand, looking away as his cheeks flushed with heat, but answered despite his embarrassment. "There is someone whom I've gifted my heart to and would like to spend the rest of my life with, but she's been engaged before and that relationship didn't end so well. I fear every other ring in the universe except a custom made one might remind her of it and I didn't want that. Besides, I plan on engraving runes of protection into it and not every material was meant to house such strong magic."

Eitri looked delighted. "An engagement ring? I haven't made one of those in _millennia_! Not since Odin was courting Friga. I would be _delighted_! Now, tell me what kind of design you were thinking of. The material. The stone. The placement of the runes. The runes themselves. Do you want some kind of engraving on it? Can we make your wedding rings, too?"

"Wow, slow down! I haven't even proposed yet!" The dwarf just laughed and Stephen was _not_ pouting, no matter how much the Cloak of Levitation was trying to pat it off if his face. "As for the design, I was thinking something like this." He took out a picture and handed it to Eitri before giving him the dimensions for the ring. Thank the Vishanti for FRIDAY, she had been more than a little eager to help by providing the measures. He'd be guessing blind, trying to give good measurements by demonstrating with his hands and based on memory alone. "I'll put in a sapphire and a ruby or maybe a lapis lazuli and a garnet."

"Ah, powerful magical conduits. I suggest the latter two. They'll stabilize whatever spells you decide to use."

Strange nodded, grateful for the advice. "As for the material, I thought to leave it up to you. Something that resembles gold in color, if gold itself is not suitable for protection runes and wards, but also durable, as she is a warrior. My magic will take care of the engravings themselves, but I was hoping you'd be kind enough to put in some of your own?"

The dwarf - who was _far_ larger than his name suggested in Earth mythology, by the way, and towered over Stephen by at least four to five feet - nodded, thinking. "You know what, since it's such a special occasion, I think Asgardian gold would be best. It's very compatible with magic and can regulate up to fifteen instantaneous, different spells. And very strong. Asgardian's make _buildings_ out of it in the golden city. Well, the palace, anyway."

He hesitated, wanting to accept that recommendation but knowing that it was probably costly as all hell. "I'm not sure I can afford that ... "

"Nonsense!" Eitri beamed at him, cheery at the thought of not making a weapon for once, but something as lovely as a ring. It was the dwarves' best kept secret that they were soft on romance. "The amount of gold needed for a ring for a human maiden is insignificant. Consider it our wedding gift. Besides, there are many materials that are actually of a much higher demand than Asgardian gold. Your Earth has some of them."

"Hm, Vibranium and Adamantium?" Stephen guessed and Eitri nodded.

"That, and something I hear is called ... _Starkenium_ , I believe. It can apparently absorb the power Uru helps Thor utilize. That's quite an amount, let me tell you. And there are rumors that it can withstand the assault of an Infinity Stone and come out unscathed."

Strange couldn't help it. He smirked. "Yes, Starkenium. Toni Stark's invention, an element she synthesized in her basement a few years ago. She's quite proud of it."

Eitri turned to look at him with interest. "You know this blacksmith? Thor mentioned her once, a few years ago. The Iron Maiden, the Lady of Iron, a woman in a metal, flying suit of armor."

The smirk only widened, even if his eyes turned fond and proud. "I'm hoping she'll say yes."

It took Eitri but a second to get his meaning, blink and then break out into the biggest, most largest grin Stephen had ever seen. "Then we will have to do our best! We _must_ impress your lady black smith. The pride of Nivadellir depends on it!"

"Wha-" He never got to finish his thought as Eitri picked him up and rushed him into the main part of the forge.

"My people, my fellow blacksmiths! We have a new custom order to make! One which _must_ impress none other than the Lady of Iron from Midgard! So get to work, dwarves of Nivadellir! Our reputation depends on it!" The dwarves all murmured between themselves, almost as excited as Eitri seemed. When their king told them to get to work, they scrambled all over the place, searching for tools and materials and heating up the forge. Stephen could only watch as the organized chaos started resembling a hive or an army of ants, curious at the efficiency of such a system. But the dwarves never faltered, never bumped into each other and never got into each other's way. It was impressive and kind of reminded Stephen of how Toni worked with FRIDAY, but this efficiency somehow lacked the easy, creative energy of Toni's workshop, when it was just her and her bots, or when Peter and Harley joined in.

Then again, these dwarves were millions of years old and had seen and made it all. Perhaps, for them, there is just no more new things to be creative about. They had done it all and mastered their craft to a point where no more can be done to improve further. It must get boring.

It was never boring in Toni's lab. It was an inventor's lair of creation, a scientific, creative, technological 'candy-land' as Toni would put it. There was always something new to make, to update, to remake, to improve, to invent, to test. Stark always had something different every day, rarely was she doing the same thing twice unless it was a replacement for something. Even her suits were all so different from each other. There was never a dull moment with that woman.

Maybe he should introduce her to these guys? She's bound to rock their world.

It was still a treat to watch the dwarves at work. Stephen, as he was still in Eitri's hand, got a nice view point of the process of preparation as the king walked over to his own station, a big hammer and anvil with a lot of interesting details he'd like to get a look at later, if he's allowed. He was actually put down on the anvil and the Cloak of Levitation puffed up in annoyance at the creases it got from where Eitri had been holding it against Stephen's back. The sorcerer just gave Levi a few comforting pats before turning to face the expectant Eitri. Confused, Stephen arched an eyebrow at the huge dwarf. In response, Eitri sat down much like a child expecting a story would, bringing him to better eye level with the human.

"Well? What is this Lady of Iron really like? Thor didn't have time to chat, the last time he was here, but he praised her work greatly. For a mere Midgardian's armor to take on Thor with Miolnir is no thing to joke about. I also heard she bested Loki in a battle of wits? Have you seen any of her creations?"

Eitri seemed to remember to stop his tirade of questions and fell silent to actually get some answers from the amused former neurosurgeon. He wasn't even surprised that Toni was a celebrity on another world, too. His girlfriend was something else, after all.

"Her name is Toni Stark and she pilots the suit she made herself, the Iron Maiden. She's a self-made hero and Earth's favorite. You could say she was officially Earth's first hero. Many people would disagree and say Captain America," he couldn't stop the curl of his lips in disgust when he said the man's name and Eitri wasn't blind to it, but apparently cared very little for the soldier and was more interested in the engineer. It was refreshing, that he didn't have to drag to Rogues into every conversation that was about Toni. "Was the first Avenger, but just because he received some super steroids seventy years ago doesn't make him a hero. I believe that they actually used the perfect title for him when they said he is a supersoldier."

After all, soldiers need war and battle. If Rogers was really a hero, he wouldn't have needed SHIELD so much to get constant missions that could have been carried out without him. He wouldn't have been in Lagos without even consulting with Nigeria's government. He would have enjoyed the peace he was offered and maybe tried to understand this brave new world he had woken up in. Despite his good intentions, Rogers was a soldier first. Until he can let go of that part, that obsession with 'fighting for tje little guy', even when he wasn't needed, Rogers will never be able to find real, lasting peace. It sickened the pacifist and the doctor in Stephen. He was almost tempted to drop Rogers off at Kamar-Taj to learn his place. Almost. He was sure the man wouldn't survive five minutes there, and it wasn't just because he was so aggravating. Nope, it was because Toni was Kamar-Taj's favorite visitor, which meant Rogers was hated to the Dark Dimension and back. The spells they'd use to kick him out would probably oust their secret location to the world.

Especially since Stephen doubted he himself would not be tempted to not just open a rift to the Dark Dimension and send the fool as a gift for Dormammu.

"Anyway, Toni's the kind of person people love to hate and hate to love but do so, either way. You can have no middle ground in your opinion of her. It's love or hate, no gray area. But it's _very_ hard not to love her in _some_ capacity. She's kind, caring, funny, smart, witty, clever, patient - well, in certain situations - but she can also be tiring, aggravating, annoying, cruel - usually to those who hurt her nearest and dearest. You should try avoiding doing that. All who've done so so far aren't around to tell the tale - dangerous, her anger can be deadly, she can at times forget important dates but she usually has an AI to remind her-"

"AI?" Eitri asked, apparently confused by this, to him, foreign term. Stephen paused, thinking of how best to describe it.

"It's an Artificial Intelligence, a ... program created by a human being to resemble it in thought processes. A super highly advanced computer with a will and personality of its own, if you will, although Toni would skin me alive if she heard me explaining FRIDAY and her bots like this."

"Don't look at our outfits and our equipment and dismiss us like this," Eitri snorted, crossing his arms. "We may prefer to simply mold metal and infuse it with magic, but we are not fools nor are we ignorant to what other worlds call _technology_. Asgard is by far the most advanced civilization, where _magic_ and _science_ are _one_. You may protest it the way the Ancient One had tried in her younger years, but it is the truth. Just as it is the truth that we dwarves know perfectly well what coding is. You will just be surprised that no one out there has thought to use programing to create ... artificial persons."

"Really? No one?" Surely it can't be that humanity had thought it up first!

"Hm, there are a few species that have something similar to what you're suggesting, but it's never been created by _their_ hands and is usually a higher power. The Kree, for instance, have the Supreme Intelligence to which they connect for guidance or the like. I wouldn't really know, as they don't talk about it. What I do know is that it's older than them and must have _some_ organic origin or parts in order to be able to connect to their brains." Eitri hummed, uncrossing his arms, thinking. "On the other hand, I've only seen a handful of other ... Artificial Intelligences you speak of. Computers, autopilots with a voice who take orders and carry out commands. Nothing like you're suggesting. That would be dangerous in a helper computer that's supposed to help you fly a ship."

Stephen grinned. When Toni heard about being the _first being in the known universe_ to create a true Artificial Intelligence, she will be so proud and elated. If there's one achievement she never brushes off, it's her AIs. "Yes, well, Toni managed to do it and she has several AIs now. She treats them like her kids. And I guess, in a way, they are."

The dwarf king looked even more interested than before. "My friend, you _must_ bring her here! I am greatly interested in her skills."

Stephen thought about it, a bit hesitant to actually release the force of nature that was an excited Toni Stark on these unsuspecting dwarves. They might have questions for her, but Toni will have quite a few more for them. She's not the type of person to be handed a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn something from the dwarves and let it slip through her fingers because she's explaining her creations to them. She's a fast talker, that one. Stephen wasn't sure Eitri will even manage to get _one_ question in for ten of hers.

"You cannot deny us this honor!" Eitri complained with a noise very close to a whine. "Please? We will throw in wedding rings!"

That had Stephen blushing but agreeing reluctantly anyways.

The rest of the time he spent in Nivadellir was used to watch the making of the ring, memorizing the protection runes Eitri used, talking to the big dwarf and putting in his own protective wards. When he finally returned to Earth, two days later, with firm instructions from Eitri to bring Toni around soon, he was greeted by Wong on the other side of the portal. The Asian sorcerer took one look at the black, velvety box in Stephen's hands and nodded approvingly before disappearing off to Kamar-Taj's library.

Now it was all the matter of the right timing.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hot dogs! Come and get your hot dogs while they're still hot!" Toni grinned as she called out, laughing at the whoop from her two pseudo sons and the resulting grunts as they started wrestling none other than Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, for the first bite. It was hilarious to see Wong simply use magic to dump the three of them into the pool, much to Hope's and Pepper's dismay as the resulting splash soaked them where they were using the chance to sunbathe, just so the Asian sorcerer would have first dibs. Joke's on him, as Hank had already secured himself the best weeny through the use of his ants and they were now bringing it to him where he and Stephen were calmly reading their books and being the bores that they were. Such party poppers. Carol at least had a good laugh at the boys' misfortune and MJ just snorted. Ned was still a bit starstruck to react beyond reverently staring at everything and May looked torn between trying to help Maria with the salad or keeping out of it, seeing as she had no useful skills for the kitchen. Rhodey's head had snapped up at the call from where he'd fallen asleep and Happy gave a not so happy grumble, unwilling to get out of his floating chair in the pool, even with the disturbance going on or the promise of delicious hot dogs. He was more of a burger person, like Toni herself, and was willing to wait for the good stuff.

Vision looked up from where he was making the sauce, catching his creator's attention. "Do you think this needs more mayonnaise? Or some more seasoning?"

"Don't put any more in there if you value my blood vessels!" The biggest surprise of this pool party called out from the bar, sipping a nice, refreshing cocktail, watching the heroes from behind black shades. "With you mother fuckers around, I'm bound to pop a vein any day now."

"Don't be so dramatic, Popeye!" Stark snickered, turning over a few burgers before putting all the hot dogs next to their buns in front of May. The woman looked grateful to get something to do as she began putting them together and passing them along to vision to put in some of the secret Stark family recipe sauce that Maria had taught only Howard and Toni. Toni herself had only ever showed it to JARVIS and FRIDAY and Vision had looked so heartbreakingly honored and touched when she decided to teach him herself instead of just letting him leech the knowledge from JARVIS' files that he still has somewhere in his coding. "Live a little! The Stark sauce never killed anyone!"

"It nearly did, once, actually," Hank Pym commented as Nick Fury snorted. "Then again, you probably shouldn't give that much calories to a person of 134 kilos. Maria nearly had a panic attack when that good gentleman keeled over at that one BBQ lunch meeting."

"Howard secretly thought it was hilarious." The director of New SHIELD snorted again into his drink, probably recalling the event. "Then again, he never did like Mr Simmons."

"No one did," Pym was the one to snort this time, thanking the ant that had brought the hot dog to him. "He was a waste of air and space. And matter. So much matter was wasted on that man. If he was made of Uranium, we could have made a new nuke out of him. I think Howard was tempted."

Toni laughed. That definitely sounded like her dad. She sighed a bit sadly at the thought of both him and her mother and wondered if she will feel this pain for the rest of her life, knowing their fate as she did. Finding out what she did had reopened a wound that had never healed right and it was still fresh. Looking around at her friends and at the source of a comforting weight on her ring finger had her thinking she might finally have a chance to let it heal right this time around. She just needed more time.

More than the half a month she had until the man who had lied to her so returned into her life without her consent.

T'Challa had finally managed to push the Rogues' pardons through, with some heavy input on Toni's and the Accords Council's part. The Rogues would be returning to the States but they won't be on active duty or put on the regular roster ever again, with the exception if they sign the Accords. If they do so, they will receive a probation period where they will go out into the field only if the New Avengers can't deal with something. They have many restrictions in place and a lot of regulations that they must follow, but they weren't being hunted by the law anymore. The US government, who had pushed the most to support T'Challa and the pardons, was currently doing damage control that _that_ had made in the international diplomatic waters, which was a blessing as it kept Rogers and his merry band of idiots off of her back for a couple more weeks. Their delayed arrival didn't lessen the pressure and the stress that all of that brought Toni, which was why they were having this party in the first place. Toni needed to unwind.

The party was perhaps the best way for that outside the bedroom and the battlefield. She needed to let out some steam and what better way than to relax and have some fun with good food, good friends, good music and good weather on top of the Stark Tower. Don't ask how or why she has an outside pool up there. It's her business alone. Organizing the party got rid of some of her frustration and the party itself was more than enough to get rid of the stress. Though, maybe having Hank and Wade around at the same time was the furthest thing from a relaxing atmosphere, now that she thought about it. Add in Fury to the mix ... Yeah, definitely not the wisest idea for a relaxing day in the sun.

Too bad Coulson couldn't join them. He had other, more pressing issues to attend to. Like his heavily pregnant wife and expecting the baby any day now. Oh, well. There will be other chances. It had been surprising enough that he openly - well, as openly as a super secretly secretive organization of secret spies could afford while keeping their secrecy - admitted to being alive, since not even the spy twins knew about that. Tough luck for them. Toni was just glad to have some form of contact with her supposed-to-be-dead-but-isn't friend. She had mourned him, as all the Avengers mourned him, even if Banner and Rogers knew the man only a handful of hours. And out of all of them, Agent had decided to reveal himself only to Toni. Then again, she had no doubt that New SHIELD was perfectly aware that she now _actively_ monitored their activities and missions and ranks, to prevent a second SHIELDRA. HYDRA may have fallen, but the same was thought back in the forties and just a couple of years ago. They'd quite aptly named themselves.

Toni shook off those thoughts, unwilling to waste this rare day off on HYDRA and her former team. Her new team and additional guests had thought up this party as a way to get her to relax. Probably because she'd been having difficulties keeping Extremis under control these past few days, her eyes an almost constant glowing, Arc Reactor blue due to how tense she was, as if she was expecting the Rogues to jump out of nowhere and attack her. Or, even worse, _talk_ to her. She had a good idea of how a conversation between them would go these days. FRIDAY had to all but lock her out of her workshop to stop her from creating an even _more_ powerful Bleeding Edge armor, like a Hulkbuster version or something. It was probably for the best. She might have chosen to add some features that were just _not_ meant to be revisited again.

The sizzling of the hamburgers drew her fully back into the present and she smiled in satisfaction when she saw they were ready. "Burgers are up! Come and get your hamburgers before I eat them all!"

"Is there anything there that won't require for me to run five miles just so I can fit in my clothes tomorrow?" Hope asked as she and Pepper came over, stuffing their plates with more salad than the hamburger or hot dog respectively. Toni knew that Pepper knew that Toni liked hamburgers the best and that Toni needed to eat more, so she wasn't really surprised by Pepper's choice. Then again, the strawberry blond had never been a burger person. "I still need to be able to put on the suit if I want to be Wasp in the field."

"The perks of being your own inventor and engineer is that you usually work off the calories and then some. Also the perks of having Extremis." Toni grinned as she felt Stephen come up behind her before an arm is wrapped around her waist and a chin came to rest on her temple. The bastard was too tall for him to comfortably rest on her shoulder. He'd probably have an aching neck after half a minute. "Actually, I should probably eat more calories with Extremis burning in my veins, now that I think about it. Oh well." She shrugged, batting Stephen away so she could take a burger for herself. "Even if _that_ didn't work, I still have the Bleeding Edge armor. It molds to my body, so I have no problem there."

"Yeah, rub it in our faces, Tones, since none of us will be able to fit one of your suits tomorrow!" Rhodey teased and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Not _my_ fault you need to be super fit to get into one of my marvelous, gorgeous suits."

Carol surprised everyone when she took both a hot dog and a burger. Happy took one look at her slim figure and arched an eyebrow. Carol just shrugged. "I'm used to food with more calories and more proteins than what your average Earth meal has to offer. Skrulls and Kree both have very different food than Earth does, although Earth's is by far the most delicious."

"But how do you keep your figure?" May asked, having taken the smallest hot dog available. Peter had taken two hot dogs, his enhanced metabolism needing it to better maintain and utilize his body's strength. _Ugh_ , Queens folks! They know _nothing_ of what a great delight a hamburger is. "Do you exercise really hard or are there some pills to eliminate the fat from your body? Or something else?"

"Yes, Carol, please share your secret." Hope said with half amusement, half curiosity. Said blond only shrugged, picking up the hamburger first.

"The power in my body regulates it well enough on its own, although my military way of life tends to help. You know, training every day, usually twice a day, active duty and all that. Id does wonders for my figure."

May sagged in disappointment, making her nephew chuckle until she elbowed him in the ribs. Grunting and rubbing his side, Peter opted to stay quiet and just eat his food. Smart boy. It was always for the best when men didn't interfere in women's business. They didn't exactly understand, which always sort of led to misunderstandings and then maybe to fights. God only knows how many times Toni herself had gotten into a fight with Steve over the smallest of things-

She shook her head, berating herself for even thinking of the man. She had just started completely and fully ignoring Rogers' existence when those damned pardons were brought up by T'Challa in one of the UN meetings. She should probably sue T'Challa for emotional damage after all of this is over. He owes her for all of this shit. It wasn't her fault that he had decided to house the Rogues in his country and now his people were getting sick of housing terrorists. Although, soon enough, they won't be terrorists anymore, at least not officially. At least this shitty US president won't be getting a second mandate, as his popularity had hit an all time low after he held his speech about welcoming the Rogues back. Talk about public discontent. No one wanted the Rogues back.

 _Hell_ , she wondered if there were _three_ countries whose people wouldn't mind having the people who could care less about their safety roaming _freely_ aroundtheir country. At the very least, parents would protest. Or grandparents. What the US government was thinking was beyond even Toni and her magnificent understanding of this fucked up field of human activity, so she didn't even try to understand how they had decided it would be a good idea to just bring them back. There were actually protests all over the States already.

"Are you really that bad at relaxing, darling? I thought you were a party animal." Toni nearly jumped, even though this voice never seemed to warrant an activation of Extremis, not even from the first day, when his magic had still set her ill at ease. The words were teasing, but when she turned around to look at the sorcerer, those gray-green-blue eyes were full of concern for her, the doctor side and the boyfriend side fighting for dominance. Toni was touched and a bit annoyed with the fretting.

"Those days are long since gone. Since after Afghanistan. And my mind just ... can't help itself but bring up the things I need to worry about." She sighed, leaning into his side. "It's very annoying, since I'm actually enjoying myself a great deal. Well, I _would_ if Wade wasn't edging Levi on." The two geniuses grimaced and looked over to where said mercenary anti-hero and part-time X-man was annoying the above mentioned magical artifact. The red cloth looked aggravated and on the verge of trying to strangle Wade to death, which wasn't going to happen, given his very strange mutation of an enhanced healing factor that rivaled Logan's, if not surpassed it. Levi was still willing to try and you really shouldn't piss the Cloak of Levitation off. It's as vindictive as it is fickle.

Stephen's grimace deepened. "If he doesn't stop provoking the Cloak, I am seriously going to send him to another dimension and forget about him there."

"Usually, I'd agree, but Peter actually likes the guy and he'll pout if Deadpool disappears. Well, that and he actually helps Spider-Man in his patrols. I think Peter's a good influence on him-"

"Fuck! Let go of me, you stinking, fucked up, deranged, shitty, ass-wipe blanket of death!"

Stark winced at the screech. "And Charles kind of, sort of promised to support the Accords and sign them in the name of the Mutant Society if I kept Deadpool off of his hands for a day, every once in a while."

Stephen hummed, watching in amusement as a pissed off Levi started banging Wade all over the place, not worried about the man one bit. The guy was practically immortal, as long as his mutation powers weren't restrained. "Why do I get the feeling that Xavier gets more out of this deal than we do?"

Toni just snorted. "Of course he gets more out of it than we do. He gets the occasional Wade-free day and better mutant rights all around the world while we get support and Wade-sitting duty. Sure, the support is awesome and well needed, but having to put up with Wilson for an entire day is almost not worth it."

"Almost?"

The genius engineer just shrugged. "He brings comic relief and great entertainment value."

Stephen had to concede to that. Most days, Deadpool and his craziness was funny as hell, but other times, a more cynical side showed its face and both Stephen and Toni dreaded those days. They kept Harley, Vision and especially Peter away on those days. They often bloked all contact with Hank those days and had Pepper keep Hope busy. Rhodey knew well enough on his own not to stick around when Wade was in one of those moods. Hell, Toni did her best to keep _Stephen_ away on those days. She didn't need Deadpool dragging up his hands and reopening old wounds and insecurities. As for Toni herself, she was well used to that. No one ever let her wounds completely close up or fade away. It was just a blessing no one but Stephen and her AIs know about Yinsen to ever let it slip just how important that man had been, her friend for only three months but a friend that had caused a change that would effect the whole world. Everything else Wade could throw at her - not that he was making an effort to be mean or cruel; Wade lived his life as though he were narrating his own movie and his comments were usually confusing as hell or hilarious. On these bad days, they were cynical and hurtful and it was like he didn't even realize it, like he didn't realize they could hear him. He was always confused when someone reacted badly to something he had said - she could take it with ease. It was a part of being Toni Stark, genius, billionaire, playgirl, philanthropist, a mask she had made for the world and never quite lost. A self defense mechanism. A suit of armor sturdier than even the Hulkbuster or her Mark L.

Not even Wade could penetrate it.

Only a Vibranium shield had once managed to chip that armor, but it was self-repairing and had come out even stronger in the end. Now, not even Adamantium could breach it.

"I guess that _is_ true and would be good for team morale, to have someone who can always make light of a situation." The Sorcerer Supreme commented with a hum, welcoming the Cloak back when it finished with Wade by throwing him back into the pool. Wong simply put up a shield around the rest of them to protect them from the splash or any retaliation Wade might resort to. Toni snickered along with most of their group as Wade grumbled about needed to get rid of the pool smell from his costume now.

"Yeah. I tried that for the old team, even tried teaming up with Barton a few times, but I rarely ever managed to get a laugh out of any of them." She had always thought it was because they didn't know each other well enough, or because they were so different to each other, but seeing how well this even weirder group was getting along made her change her mind. If _Pym_ can laugh at silly or dirty jokes, why couldn't, why _shouldn't_ the Rouges? Because Rogers was a perfect forties boy? Because the others were kissing his ass? Because they thought if Rogers found them good, they would be absolved of all of their sins? Toni knew she had once thought that, thought that if Steve liked her, then surely she wasn't a hopeless case, that there _had_ to be something good in her. She didn't need his approval now to _know_ she was good. She was flawed and she had made quite a number of mistakes in her past, but she was only human and even Asgardians fucked up every now and then and they were practically demigods. If Rogers thought he was sinless because he wore the American flag or because he had been injected by some super steroids, then he was fucking delusional. "I guess they were all just sticks in the mud. No good taste whatsoever. Huh. No wonder the atmosphere was always so tense."

Stephen just shook his head. "How you managed to survive the lot of them remains a mystery but I swear you deserve a medal."

"I deserve my name and picture in the Hall of Fame for that."

"I thought you've already been in the Hall of Fame for the past fifteen years as Toni Stark and then got another spot for Iron Maiden?"

"Well, I obviously deserve _another_ one."

Stephen had only rolled his eyes then, but a few weeks later, after meeting the Rogues in person, he had agreed with her and said he suggested that, if not the Hall of Fame, then Kamar-Taj's library will gladly house the picture and name and acknowledgment for this incredible feat.

Toni really loved her boyfriend.


	12. Chapter 12

From the moment Rhodey walked into her lab that day, after 'welcoming' the Rogues back, Toni could tell that Rhodey had finally figured out she and Strange were engaged. How he found or figured it out wasn't as important as capturing every awkward second of him congratulating her and begrudgingly accepting that he is _not_ to hunt down the Sorcerer Supreme for daring to go behind his back to propose to her. He was elated to be allowed to give him a shovel talk, though, so she had wondered where she should be worried or amused.

From the moment she saw Stephen's reaction to finding out they would be becoming parents, Toni could tell that this was practically a start of a fairytale type of ending and she knew, no matter how much she hated that knowledge, that it won't last for long. And for the first time in, line, years, it won't be because of the Rogues. She still had a good month without any problems or disturbances aside from Rogers constantly trying to talk to her - he apparently wanted them to get back together, despite being _perfectly_ well aware that she'll be marrying Strange soon and was more than content with that fact. She was _happy,_ damn it! Happy, truly and deeply _happy_ for the first time in so, _so_ long. And she wanted Rogers to have nothing to do with anything that caused that happiness - or smaller instances where one of the old Avengers would try to talk to her when she would really rather not interact with them at all. Wanda would try and get back with Vision, who would in turn do his best to avoid her, Sam was trying to make it up to Rhodey but Carol stood in his way, Barton was trying to get Toni to arrange him a meeting with his wife, Romanoff had tried to guilt trip her into getting her in contact with Fury but at least Hope had Lang perfectly under control and the only mishap on his part was playing with his ants. Then there was Wanda aggravating Stephen about lessons and training and Wilson constantly asking when he can have Red Wing back and Rogers getting into arguments with Ross, but, thankfully, that was the gist of it.

Ignoring their overreaction when they learned that Peter and Harley were underage despite them both being perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and having their parent's/guardian's permission to be back up. Harley had put them down quite spectacularly and Deadpool had made the Black Widow red with anger and embarrassment when he got a chance to talk with the Rogues.

Then, when one peaceful day, while she was jogging in the park with Pepper and discussing wedding plans and the baby's room arrangements when, suddenly, a sparking portal opened in the middle of Central Park. Now, usually, this wasn't a cause of concern except the grim look on Stephen's face told her everything she needed to know about how the rest of her day was going to go. Pepper practically _begged_ her not to go - "Think about the baby!" - but Bruce's appearance and the name on his lips froze Toni's blood in her veins and she was left with no choice as she stepped through the portal into her own world of nightmares. From the moment Bruce explained what happened with the Asgardians - and the story of what happened to the Hulk after Sokovia and what Bruce went through with Thor and Loki was a story in for itself - to the moment when Stephen and Peter were beamed up into the alien warship, to meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy and to the fight with Thanos, all of it was just the prologue to her greatest nightmare.

Then she was fighting Thanos on her own and actually managing to do some damage before the tyrant attempted to stab her with her own blade but she and FRIDAY were quicker, dispersing the blade before it made contact and making it retreat into the armor. The sudden move made the Titan stumble but was far from enough to distract him and he curled his giant hand around Toni's midsection. Had it not been for Extremis, Toni wouldn't have survived long enough for Peter to slam into Thanos hard enough to make the purple behemoth let go of her. Toni and Peter were on him instantly, soon joined by the dizzy Stephen and Levi, then assisted by Peter Quill, AKA Starlord. It was their combined effort that, in the end, did indeed weaken and distract Thanos enough for Nebula, the blue alien cyborg that had arrived some time after Thanos threw a moon at Toni, to sneak up on her 'adoptive father' and cut his fucking head off. Toni all but collapsed with relief when Thanos' head rolled in front of her feet, only to kick it away when its eyes suddenly snapped open, the world bleeding red as the Reality Stone made their efforts futile.

She wasn't sure what possessed her to do it, but she activated the unibeam and charged at Thanos at full thrusters. Adding Extremis into her punch knocked the purple alien over and she came to straddle his chest, one hand pinning the Gauntlet open, the other around his neck as she let the Starkenium release almost all of its power until only twelve percent was left in the suit. As with the Mind Stone when Loki had tried to use it to control her mind back in the Battle of New York, the other Infinity Stones were ineffective when faced with the raw energy from the Starkenium core of her Arc Reactor and Thanos was left with half his face burned off but somehow still _alive_ and well enough to throw Toni off of him. But Levi had caught her and Peter had been ready to web the Gauntlet and keep it open, Drax now awake and helping him pull and Stephen was ready, conjuring up some amplifying spell and he, Toni and Quill fired all they had left through it, the Arc Reactor's energy breaking through the Power Stone's influence and the attack landed true, right through Thanos' head and upper torso. The suit retreated back into the Arc Reactor housing due to only 2% of power being left, but they had a secured way back home with the Guardians.

Only Toni insisted on a few pit stops along the way, first being Vormir.

It took her laughingly little to convince Stephen to forget about that natural law bullshit and just reverse time. In a localized manner, of course. They didn't need to undo their efforts in killing Thanos. It was a surprise when they met Red Skull as the guardian of the Soul Stone and it was even more surprising when he told them how Thanos got his hands on the Stone in the first place - even though he kind of had to - but with that understanding, Stephen simply reversed time on the Gauntlet and the green alien woman that had been sacrificed - Gamora, the love of Quill's life, apparently - to reverse the exchange. The touching reunion between the Guardians had Toni kind of emotional, but she had blamed it on the pregnancy hormones, even if her fiancé and her pseudo son didn't believe her. In retaliation, she took Levi and didn't give him back, much to the Cloak's pleasure and Stephen's exasperated, fond amusement. The poor thing will need some stitching. Thanos had done quite a number on it, as he had on all of them.

Their second stop was also Toni's insistence. The ship full of Asgardians that Thanos had attacked in order to get the Tesseract and the Space Stone within hadn't changed much since the Guardians last saw it, but once Stephen got to work, the Space Stone was back in the Cube and there were plenty of confused Asgardians trying to figure out just what the Hel had happened. Loki seemed to understand, bowed to Toni in thanks and then glared in distaste at Strange. Toni had learned of their interaction and found it funny but didn't antagonize Loki about it. In the end, they had Heimdall transport them all with the Bifrost back to Earth, where they were almost shot out of the sky by Carol before she realized they were not enemies. Thor nearly did it anyway when he recognized the ship and all but barreled into Loki, Heimdall and the warrior woman simply calling herself Valkyrie. Bruce looked rather relieved to see them, too, so that was nice, as was seeing that Vision, Rhodey, Harley, Hope, Carol and everyone else had survived. They had apparently taken the fight to Wakanda and had nearly decimated the attacking aliens until they had all but fell dead, probably with the deaths of the Black Order and Thanos.

The last three trips Strange made before they could curl up together and just sleep for a century was to Knowhere, Xander and to Nivadellir, to return the Reality and Power Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet. Stephen grumbled about the natural laws, only half heartedly, and restored the three worlds back to life before he finally came home and the New Avengers all collapsed into a big group cuddle on a pile of pillows the kids prepared while the sorcerer was busy. The former Rogues only stared, feeling awkward, especially when Pepper, Happy, May, MJ, Ned, Wade and Hank appeared with Wong and they all joined in, along with a few ants who pushed Scott over to Hope and Shuri, who all but dragged T'Challa into it. Toni only remembered asking FRIDAY to do a group health scan before falling asleep, not even hearing the results. When she woke up, it was to Loki and Stephen glaring at each other from where Thor had apparently dragged the 'Revengers' and the Guardians into the pile and no one had minded. Much. Apparently Stephen and Loki had some things to discuss, but it was a pleasant surprise to learn that Loki won't be going for his knives. Yet. But for now ...

He was welcomed.

The Rogues, though, were not, much to her pleasure.

With some rest and food, everyone was back to mostly an operational state. Wakanda had lost quite a few warriors but the loss wasn't nearly as devastating as it could have been - like, say, half of the life in the entire universe - and the injured were getting treated. When everyone was ready for it, Toni called up Fury and had Stephen portal him, Maria and Coulson in, surprising everyone from the original Avengers, especially with Coulson's alive status. A short debate started and was swiftly ended by Fury before they started a status report, including medical health of all participants. Everyone from Titan sighed in relief when FRIDAY informed them that the baby was perfectly fine. Stephen might have cried a little but Toni had stayed perfectly dry-eyed ... Yeah, right. She had just hid it better when Peter and Harley hugged her in relief while those who hadn't known she was pregnant - the Revengers, half of the Guardians and the Wakandans; of _course_ she had told Fury about his honorary grandnephew or grandniece. She and Carol had ribbed him mercilessly after he had plucked Toni out of her chair and hugged her with a few stray tears of happiness rolled from his good eye - congratulated her, although they kind of didn't understand the amount of relief everyone was showing.

It was probably for the best that they never learn she had been practically sterile until _this_ not so little miracle had happened. The Hulk can rage about it later, when Toni was back in New York and eating a greasy cheeseburger.

The world - the entire universe - recovered quite well after the almost tragedy that could have shaken them was so narrowly avoided. The Guardians left Earth after the wedding - the Wedding of the Millennium, apparently, and it was, it _had_ to be, with what Kamar-Taj, the Asgardians, the Wakandans, the Guardians, Hope, Pepper and Toni did with it; Fury, Carol, Maria and Natasha, surprisingly enough, were a great help - the Asgardians had by then already somewhat settled in Norway - they were practically their national treasures now - the Wakandans went back to their own business and Toni and Stephen had a nice honeymoon that lasted all of two whole days before they were needed to save someone else's ass. Again. Not that they needed much longer, as both were workaholics and a bit of control freaks, after the types of lives they've led so far.

Time passed, villains got bold enough again to attack and the Avengers took care of them with ease. Scott and Hope got together again, Happy proposed to Pepper and Carol proposed to Rhodey, as was both the Kree and the Skrull way. Her honey-bear sure did get a surprise with that one and she had laughed at him while he gawked at his proposing girlfriend. All in all, life was good, especially as Rogers had finally gotten the message and left her alone. Thank the Vishanty or the Allfather or whoever else was listening up there. He was becoming quite bothersome.

By her fourth month of pregnancy, Toni stopped piloting the Iron Maiden, not willing to let the risk of losing her baby due to stress take away what might very well be her last opportunity to have a child of her own. Well, of her own flesh and blood, anyway. She already had her bots, FRIDAY, Vision, Harley and Peter. Stephen approved of this move, as did almost everyone else. Hell, almost the entire world supported her temporary leave, all happy for her for once. That was quite a new experience for Toni Stark, or rather, Toni Stark-Strange. Yeah, she never got rid of her name. The kid will never get rid of the Stark name.

Starks created the future, after all.

Speaking of her sorcerer husband, the further along in her pregnancy that she got, the more doting he became. If anyone had doubted that he was whipped before for Toni, they wouldn't now, as he catered to her every whim and need. Then again, the entirety of Kamar-Taj and the New Avengers did pretty much the same, even Wong and Hank ran around to make sure she was comfortable. As her belly grew and the child remained healthy, Toni started getting a little impatient, barely being able to wait to hold her child for the first time. Unlike some mothers, she never complained about being pregnant. Then again, those mothers probably had those pregnancy pains, like a stiff back or swollen feet, neither of which Toni had to deal with because of the lovely invention that was the Extremis. And, seeing as the likelihood of her ever having a repeat experience, she treasured every moment of it.

Her cravings, though, were as strange as her last name was, but easily satisfied, seeing as she had a bunch of portal-making friends that could go all around the world to fulfill said cravings. She even got Carol addicted to some of the toppings she had put on her pizza once. And let's not even get her on the topic of all the experiments with toppings she had with Thor and his favorite meal of all, pop-tarts. Stephen, Christine and Bruce nearly had a heart attack for her when they saw the amount of sugar and cholesterol she had inhaled that day. Not that Extremis hadn't burned through it almost instantly. Seriously, Extremis was one of the best things that had happened to her, where this pregnancy was concerned.

Especially when her water broke and the contractions and pains of labor began. She'd heard of women screaming their throats raw or accidentally breaking their husband's hand during the labor while screaming profanities and threats of castration or the labor lasting for hours, where, in comparison hers lasted no longer than half an hour altogether and was relatively painless and almost effortless on her part. Good thing, too, for Stephen's hands' sake.

Waiting to hold her baby for the first time was way more nerve wrecking.

"Congratulations, it's a healthy, little boy!" Christine beamed as she entered the room where the proud parents were waiting, holding close and securely a little bundle in her arms. She gave the new Stark-Strange a little smile before handing him over to his awaiting mother, who all but melted when she saw him up close for the first time and held him in her arms. Somehow, all of her difficulties in life, all of her troubles and problems seemed worth it if she had come to this moment in time.

He was a handsome baby, and not just because he was hers. He already had a tuft of hair at the top of his head that seemed somewhere between her and Stephen's in color and he had her nose and Stephen's high cheek bones under all that baby fat. He won't be opening his eyes for another couple of hours and she couldn't wait to see what color they will be. Stephen had that heterochromia iridium thing that she found really awesome and hoped their son will develop. It's quite beautiful, although she kind of wanted him to have her eye color, too. All Starks had a rich brow for their eye color and this boy was going to be one hell of a Stark, growing up with Iron Maiden and the Sorcerer Supreme as his parents and all his superpowered aunts and uncles. Toni couldn't help but wonder whether he'll take up science or magic. Or maybe he'll go a la Asgardian and learn that point where magic and science are one and the same. He'll certainly be smart enough to do that if he inherits half of his parents' intelligence and memory. And he'll certainly have teachers in all aspects that might interest him.

"Hello, my little _bambino_ ," she cooed to him as she nestled him against her chest, Stephen moving to be her support and pillow as they gazed down at their child. "Welcome to the world. We've been waiting for you."

"Your mom nearly lost patience with how excited she was," the man chuckled, extending a shaking finger to their son. The little boy wrapped a tight fist around Stephen's offered finger and Toni saw Stephen melt. "I'm so glad that we can finally meet you, little one. You are not even aware of how loved you already are. Mommy and daddy fought a giant alien tyrant to make sure you can come to this world." Toni couldn't help but snort. That will be quite a story to tell in school when her son grows up. When he started making a fuss, Toni arranged him so he would have access to her breast so he can suckle. She winced a little at how strongly he pulled. She couldn't help but wonder if Extremis had any side effects. "What should we call him?"

Toni didn't even need much time to think about it before replying. "Miracolo. It's Italian for miracle. I thought it fitting, ever since I learned I was pregnant. We can call him Colo for short. Or Raco. Or little Mira."

Stephen just grinned and kissed her forehead. "Sounds good to me." She just leaned against him and watched as Christine walked back in, this time trailed by all their friends and family. Even Laura was there. Toni smiled at them with a little wave, suddenly feeling just how tired the labor had left her, releasing a yawn.

Pepper walked over and she gave her her godson and she, Happy, Rhodey and Carol all made goofy faces at the baby, already wrapped around little Miracolo's fingers. Hope and Scott were staring at the godparents and the baby with something akin to awe, Peter and Harley flitting about, trying to get a better look at their pseudo baby brother. Hank and Nick were holding back a little, but both smiled at her when they met her eyes. Thor was openly bawling from the other end of the room in happiness while Loki awkwardly pat his back. It was weird how quickly Loki got integrated into the New Avengers. Shuri was practically vibrating out of her skin, only held back by T'Challa to let the family have a first look before she could start talking the baby's ear off about all the things that she'll teach him. Deadpool was being awfully quiet where he was standing, in full uniform, with Hill, Coulson and Ross. May was with Ned and MJ, also waiting for their turn while Laura and Wong had made their way to the proud parents. Vision was also hovering uncertainly around her until Toni grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Billy, Stephen's old nurse, and Bruce were discussing some medical thing or the other that Toni was really too tired to listen to and were trying to keep the overly excited Guardians - who had come as soon as they learned she was in her final weeks of labor - in control and stop Valkyrie from breaking out the booze. The littler Bartons were outside, for now, glaring the ex-Rogues into submission so they won't crowd the room much. Or upset the mother. They may or may not have been helped by the ants Hank stationed out there.

New Asgard was waiting to hear about the baby. Nivadellir and Xandar, too. She had little doubt that someone at Kamar-Taj was somehow watching them - she believed Wong had called it scrying - and were celebrating already. Maria must have told everyone at SI already, and if not, FRIDAY had, because Toni had connected to the server with Extremis and saw a celebration in progress. Peter and Shuri had probably already informed the world.

Toni sighed in content, closing her eyes. Her son was here, in the hands of the people she trusted, she and her little family were surrounded by their _bigger_ family. She was safe. _They_ were safe. The biggest source of her nightmares was gone. She was held by the love of her life and surrounded by friends so dear they were family.

Stephen kissed her cheek and tightened his hold on her, reclining a little more so she would be more comfortable. Toni just sighed happily again as Levi wrapped around them both, the chaotic harmony of her family's voices lulling her to the best sleep since she was four.

For once, life was good for Toni Stark(Strange).

**THE END**


End file.
